


i found you

by bananas



Series: ink my whole body [2]
Category: Cricket RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Don't be alarmed, M/M, Soulmate AU, Soulmate Tattoos, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, alastair and swanny as wooing masters, and kp as an annoying whiny drama-queen!, and their grandmaster jimmy, based on canon but au?, featuring: paul collingwood as a slut, i think thats what its called, im sorry to any kp fans, please dont send me any angry dms like david warners fans do, some past kp/alastair is implied, tim murtagh as a love guru, wait thats not even au thats canon, wow thats a lot of tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 13:14:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12532248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bananas/pseuds/bananas
Summary: Prompt: A soulmate au where your soulmates current thoughts form a tattoo on your skin. Word length depends on how close your interaction is. Thoughts only appear after your first meeting.ortattoos burn onto skin in bangladesh and two fast bowlers fall in love





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> first, you don't need to have read any other part of the series in order to read this fic. they are completely unrelated, they're just set in the same universe and maybe, at times, there will be references to events that occur in another fic in this series but even then you don't need to have read other parts of the series to understand it
> 
> ok so this fic is set in chittagong in bangladesh during the england tour of bangladesh 2010 when steven finn made his debut. any change in location and date will be mentioned in the chapter notes or beginning of the chapter. the first chap is set 2 days before the start of the first test. 
> 
> idk if stuart broad and steven had ever played together before or interacted before this test; my research wasn't that deep but for the purposes of this fic, this is their first meeting.
> 
> all matches, wickets taken and other cricket related events are events that actually happened but the conversations, interactions etc are a figment of my imagination

Stuart’s POV 

 

He’s had the tattoo on his thigh for a while now. The scrawled words burned slightly when they appeared and they still twinge when they swirl around on his skin, forming his soulmate’s thoughts from time to time whenever he’s close to them.

 

He never actually thought he’d actually get a soulmate tattoo. It’s not common but it’s also not unheard of.  The select few that do get their tattoo sometimes spend their entire life without ever figuring out whose thoughts are etched on their skin. Sometimes they get their tattoo just once; they interacted with their soulmate just the one time, only to never see them ever again.

 

The first time Stuart’s tattoo had burned onto his skin, he’d been returning from a trip to the team’s physiotherapist and was standing in the elevator ready to go up to his room in their hotel in Bangladesh when a group of young English players entered the elevator. He recognized a few of their faces as the new players making their test debuts in this series. They all crowded in and the elevator lurched upwards when Stuart felt his thigh burn. He hissed and grabbed his leg as it stung sharply and was met with a few stares from the boys in the elevator. One of them, a ridiculously tall man who towered over Stuart even by a few inches, turned to stare at him curiously and Stuart met his gaze with a slight blush on his face and a sheepish smile. He recognized him as one of the new fast bowlers getting his test cap in this series against Bangladesh. His name was something like Finley? Finch? Finan? Stuart turned away as the elevator dinged and came to a stop at their floor. His new teammates strolled out of the elevator towards their respective rooms but the fast bowler (Finn? Finnegan?) lagged behind and half-turned towards Stuart as they walked out of the elevator together.

 

“You alright? You looked like you’re in a bit of pain there for a minute.”

 

Stuart turned to him, half-surprised at his question, “Uh, yeah I’m alright, just got a cramp I think. Nothing to worry about.”

 

“Better hope not or I might just have to replace you as the leader of England’s pace attack won’t I?” the bowler said with a light, teasing smile on his face.

 

Stuart laughed at that and replied, “Getting a bit ahead of ourselves aren’t we? Haven’t been out on the pitch yet and you’re already planning a coup to overthrow me.”

 

“That’s how it is out there young Stuart, you have to watch your back now,” he said with a grin.

 

Stuart smirked back, “Consider me warned then. I look forward to seeing you out on the pitch Watford.”

 

“Right back you, Nottingham.”

 

And with that the bowler turned towards his room at the far end of his hall leaving Stuart standing near his own room door slightly shell-shocked and wondering what just happened to him. He pulled out his key card and entered his room. His thigh still stung slightly so he pulled his shorts up and walked up to the long mirror to see what was causing his leg to sting like that. A black swirling script marked his leg which left Stuart wondering when the hell he’d gotten a tattoo and how did he not remember? The words began to fade but Stuart managed to make them out before they disappeared.

 

“ _god, his eyes are so blue”_

 

The words almost faded away leaving only _“blue”_ marked on his skin before that disappeared as well a few seconds later. Stuart stared at his thigh in shock. The pain medication given to him by the physiotherapist wasn’t strong enough to induce hallucinations as far as he knew. The only possible explanation for the tattoo had to be that it was a soulmate tattoo but those were so incredibly rare. He had almost thought them to be a myth until he’d seen the black ink on the Jimmy’s back when his shirt rode up during one of their training sessions in the last tour in South Africa. Jimmy had immediately pulled his shirt back down and turned away from Stuart, who looked away just as fast. The look on his face told Stuart that he’d better not question him about what he had just seen.

 

Stuart rubbed the place that had just been marked with his soulmate’s thoughts as if willing them to come back. He knew well enough about how the tattoos worked, but just how close did his soulmate have to be to have their thoughts become etched on their skin? Could it have been someone he walked past in the lobby or one of the lads in the elevator? It could be someone on this floor right at this moment in time. His heart raced thinking of the possibilities and how close he could be to his _soulmate_. It was such strange word, often associated with stories of star-crossed lovers or long-lost loves. And yet here he was an ordinary guy from Nottingham with a _soulmate_. That would definitely take some getting used to.

 

The excitement of finding that his soulmate existed didn’t wear off even till the next morning. In fact, he found himself growing more and more excited about the prospect of running into to them again and feeling that sting on his thigh. He’d routinely checked his leg every time he felt a sharp twinge the rest of the evening and all through the night as well. Some words had appeared briefly at times such as “ _match”_ , _“tomorrow”_ and even at one point _“fuck”_ but no sentences appeared which meant that he was close to them but not as close as he had been last night. Unfortunately Stuart didn’t really know how long the words stayed on his skin after being close to his soulmate and how the distance between related to the sentence length so he couldn’t quite figure out how close he was to his soulmate but he was determined to figure it out.

 

 

Steven’s POV

 

When Steven had gotten off the plane at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong, he’d finally allowed himself to believe that he was actually there and that he was going to be representing his country as a test player. It wasn’t a dream and it wasn’t an elaborate prank being pulled on him. He was actually _here_ and he was going to be playing with his heroes, wearing his country's colours and making his family back home proud. He would bowl with legends like Broad and Graeme Swann and sure, it was just a tour against Bangladesh and team regulars like Andrew Strauss had pulled out of the tour to rest before more important international commitments like the T20 world cup and The Ashes, but this was his chance to show the selectors and his country that he could perform domestically _and_ internationally. He walked alongside his fellow debutants into the hotel. They’d be playing in the ODI series but Steven had been lucky enough to be called up for his first Test match in his England whites due to some injuries in the side. He was staring around at the hotel with unfiltered awe as the other lads chatted away to him about the hotel, the ground and the training schedule for the next day.

 

As they piled into the elevator the chatter died down and he felt a sharp sting on his right shoulder. He shrugged his shoulders as if to get rid of the sting and he fitted himself into the elevator to make room for the other lads. He heard a sharp hiss from someone near him and turned to them only to find himself face to face with none other than Stuart Broad. He schooled his shocked expression into one that hopefully looked more composed and Broad met his look with a small smile and light colour on his cheeks.

 

The elevator came to a stop and as the rest of the boys moved out of the elevator he took a deep breath and inquired about Broad’s sudden cry of pain. The rest of the conversation was a complete blur. Steven could only hope that he hadn’t said something completely embarrassing but with the way Broad laughed it wouldn’t have mattered much if he had because he, Steven Finn, the extremely tall, awkward guy with little control over his limbs and his mouth had managed to make Stuart Broad, the most attractive man in cricket, laugh. It didn’t matter that his right shoulder stung like a bitch throughout the conversation or that his smile might have been so wide it was creepy or that he may have suggested to Stuart Broad, the king of all tall fast bowlers, that he, Steven Finn, a lowly, uncapped, possible-debutant-in-this-series, might actually be able to overthrow him as the leader of England’s pace attack. He’s surprised he didn’t get socked in the face for that one.

 

He managed to walk away with some of his dignity hopefully but not before he tried to memorise the steely blue colour of Broad’s eyes and was enamored by how very blue they were. He’d never seen such strikingly blue eyes in his life. Eventually he realized he may have been staring a bit too intently for a bit too long and he turned to walk back to his room.

 

As he made his way to his room his right shoulder continued to twinge slightly but it faded as a shook his shoulder a bit more. His room was just as warm as the corridor outside and the Bangladeshi heat was causing his shirt to start to stick to his skin so pulled it over his head and placed it on the chair near the bathroom. As he walked into the bathroom to splash some water on his face to refresh him after the flight he saw a dark shadow across his shoulder when he passed the full length mirror near the door. He paused and stared at it in the mirror and then turned away from the mirror to look at it himself. It looked like words tattooed onto his skin but they were rapidly disappearing. He only managed to glimpse at the last few words left: _“ouch” “flirting” “pain”_. He stared at the words as they faded away. He’d read about soulmate tattoos before and knew a few people who had them but he never believed that he’d get one. They weren’t that common and it had seemed cool but he never actually thought he would be lucky enough to have a soulmate out there for him or actually find them. But then a lot of what he didn’t expect to actually happen to him had happened. He was here wasn’t he? He was in Bangladesh representing his country, flying halfway across the world and now he’d found his soulmate here too. He stared at the place where the tattoo had marked him previously and then turned towards the shower. As curious as he was about who exactly near him was his soulmate, he needed to shower and get a move on with unpacking and preparing for training tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the england team has a practice session before the first test against bangladesh.

Steven’s POV

 

Steven would love to say that he wasn’t one of the first players to reach the practice session the next morning. He would also love to say that he wasn’t so excited to start training before the match and that his hands weren’t shaking as he tied his shoe-laces. He couldn’t say either of those things of course because he reached the changing rooms before Alastair Cook even and it took two tries to get his laces done because his hands were shaking so bad.

 

The excitement of his impending debut and the hope that he might interact with his soulmate today had reduced him to a nervous, over-punctual wreck. He finished tying his laces and stood up as Alastair entered the room; he gave an uncomfortable but hopefully passable smile to his captain as he passed him in the changing rooms and made his way to the nets.

 

He practiced his run up and bowled a few balls at the wicket before he heard loud voices coming from the entrance, signaling the arrival of his new teammates. His right shoulder began to twinge again and he rubbed at his tattoo through his shirt but couldn’t risk reading it to see what it said, now that everyone had arrived. He turned at the sound of a loud, uninhibited laugh coming from the crowd and saw Stuart Broad nearly shaking with laughter at something Graeme Swann had apparently said. Steven smiled to himself and as he did so, he met Stuart’s eye amid his laughter. The bowler gave him a grin that Steven returned with a raise of his hand which hopefully resembled a wave. Stuart approached him followed closely by Graeme.

 

“If it isn’t England’s pace attack’s future leader. Getting some extra practice in before the coup d’état Finny?”

 

Graeme let out a loud laugh while Steven’s mouth fell open slightly with shock. He hadn’t expected Stuart to bring up his remark from yesterday nor had he expected a nickname to be thrown in.

 

“Oh so this is the tall lad you were telling me about Broady?” Graeme turned to Steven with a big smile, “Nice to meet you, mate. I’m Graeme Swann, England’s best spinner and, apparently, your future co-leader of our bowling attack.”

 

Graeme turned back to Stuart, “You know Broady I reckon he really could beat you as the top fast bowler, considering the fact that he’s got at least a foot on you.”

 

Steven had to crack a smile at this as Stuart replied with mock offended look on his face, “Excuse me, my height is just fine. Just because I don’t have giraffe genes like Finny here, doesn’t mean I can’t bowl just as fast. And besides, I’m telling Jimmy you called me the top fast bowler. He’ll love to hear that. ”

 

“Oooh I’m scared. What’s Jimmy going to even do? Be grumpy about it?"

 

“I don’t know Stu, I think my giraffe genes definitely give me an advantage over your dwarf genes,” Steven interjected with a grin.

 

Stuart turned to him with an offended look, “I do not have dwarf genes! You’ve only got a few inches on me, that doesn’t make me a dwarf.”

 

His lips pulled into a pout and Steven froze, thinking he’d actually offended him but Graeme laughed again and gave Stuart a slap on his shoulder, “Oh stop crying Broady, he was just messing with you.”

 

“Yeah mate I didn’t mean to offend you or anything I was just messing with you, you know. You’re a brilliant fast bowler, best in the world I’d say. And you’re not a dwarf either. I mean if anyone’s a dwarf its Graeme here or like my mate back home? He’s 5’6 or something, super short lad, he has to bend over backwards just to talk to me sometimes-”

 

Stuart smiled at him and dropped his pout. “Yeah I know, mate.  Don’t worry about it.”

 

Steven’s tattoo began to prickle again, more relentlessly this time.

 

“Good thing you stopped him there Stu, Finny here looked like he could go on for another hour or so,” Graeme said with a laugh.

 

Steven’s cheeks coloured as they heard someone give a shout from behind him.

 

“Swanny, Stu, are you planning on getting dressed for practice any time soon?” Alastair called from near the dressing room.

 

 Steven turned immediately, feeling guilty for getting them scolded by their captain but Graeme walked past him towards Alastair with a grin and said, “Alright, alright, we’re coming. Don’t get your boots in a twist, Woody.” Stuart laughed loudly as he followed Graeme to the changing rooms. Alastair looked at them with a confused expression with which he turned to look at Steven as well. Steven shrugged. He was just as in the dark about that joke as the captain. He turned back towards the nets and stole a quick look at his tingling tattoo.

 

  _“runs and looks like him”_

He frowned. He didn’t know what that could possibly mean. Shaking his shoulders out, he grabbed a ball of the ground and resumed his bowling practice.

 

 

Stuart’s POV

After an interesting conversation with Finny where he hoped he hadn’t made a complete fool out of himself, Stuart headed to the changing rooms where the other lads had almost finished getting ready and padding up. As he changed into his practice kit he glimpsed at his tattoo which was changing rapidly. _“turf is so rough”_ became _“hope he doesn’t think I’m a weirdo”_ which quickly turned into _“nickname”_.

 

The tattoo continued changing but didn’t provide any more hints as to who at the training session was his soulmate. He pulled his track bottoms up, left the cubicle and followed Swanny towards the nets. Graeme was busy chatting away with Ali and was talking so loudly that he’d begun to attract the attention of the players around them.

 

“I finally realized who you remind me when you run Ali,” Graeme was telling Alastair. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize it before.”

 

Alastair gave Graeme an amused look and replied in a wry voice, “Really, now? Who’s that then?”

 

“Woody from Toy Story of course! You run exactly like him. I have video proof as well; I had Jimmy compile it for me. I’ll show it you later,” Graeme told him excitedly.

 

Stuart snorted despite having heard this theory already as Alastair cracked a smile. Swanny had gone into great detail with him about how and why Alastair resembled the cartoon character on the way to practice. He’d even shown him video Jimmy had compiled which were various clips of Alastair sprinting down the pitch with the strangest running technique he’d ever seen. He’d spent a solid minute laughing uncontrollably after watching it.

 

 “I look forward to it Swanny,” Alastair said dryly as he headed off to the other end of the training area.

  
Stuart positioned himself at the run up mark near the empty net and picked up on the balls lying there as the spin bowling coach, Mushtaq Ahmed approached Swanny and engaged him in conversation. Stuart rubbed his thigh, absentmindedly as his tattoo continued to tingle. It hadn’t stopped tingling since he’d neared his teammates this morning so that at least narrowed his search down a bit. It could be anyone from his squad or staff though and it was hard to determine who all had been near him when the tattoo first appeared. They could’ve been on any of the floors of the hotel or anywhere around him.

 

Practice continued uneventfully but he did catch the new lad, Steven Finn (he got his name out of Graeme last night who then demanded to know why he was so interested in the fast bowler. Stuart hoped that his excuses of wanting to know his fellow fast bowlers names before they practiced together was believable but something about Swanny’s wide grin told him it wasn’t.) staring at him from his own practice net where he was bowling at a fellow debutant. He gave him a nod or a smile every time he saw him look and at times, couldn’t help but stare back at Steven while admiring the pace he was able to generate or some of the impressive bouncers and yorkers he bowled.

 

After practice Stuart headed back to the hotel with the rest of the team. On the way back, Swanny and Bressie enthusiastically planned the Call of Duty tournament for the evening as Alastair’s reminders of getting an early night before the test fell on deaf ears.

 

“I want Broady for sure,” Swanny was telling Tim. He turned to Broady, “You’re in right Stu? Or will you only show up unless we invite the debutantes as well? One special, fast bowling, giraffe-like debutante in particular?”

 

Stuart blushed as he shot Swanny a glare. He should’ve known Swanny wouldn’t forget his questions from last night. Tim just looked confused as he looked between Swanny and Stuart.

 

“What debutant? Who are we talking about? Why do you want to invite them Stu?”

 

“It nothing Bressie,” Stuart assured him while still glaring at Swanny. “Graeme here is just being stupid as always.”

 

“I take offense to that Stuart! And because of that, now I am going to invite Finny especially to the tournament. Nice nickname by the way, you’re ever so creative,” Swanny said mockingly.

 

If it were possible, Stuart would’ve blushed harder than he already was. That was the last time he told Swanny anything. Thank God he hadn’t mentioned the soulmate tattoo on his thigh. Swanny would’ve never shut up about it.

 

He cringed slightly as Swanny called out loudly to Finny who was walking ahead, “Oi Finny, listen up. Broady’s having a Call of Duty tournament in his room when we get back.” He turned to the rest of the team who was listening in as well, “Food and drinks are on him, you guys interested?”

 

Stuart couldn’t remember promising to pay for everyone’s food or drinks but he kept his mouth shut when he saw how Steven’s face lit up at the mention of the tournament. His thigh prickled as well or maybe those were butterflies in his stomach? He hoped it was his tattoo because otherwise he truly had become the teenage girl Swanny and Jimmy had been telling him he was for years now.

 

He sighed to himself as the rest of his team agreed to the tournament and started discussing it between themselves excitedly. He immediately headed up to his room as they passed the hotel doors. He had very little time to unwind before they all would show up for the tournament and he needed all the time he could get to relax. He still hadn’t figured out whose thoughts were being etched on his skin and he hadn’t gotten a chance to read the tattoo since the changing rooms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was just me setting up the scene a bit more. i promise the next chapter will be less of a filler!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2 bowlers on a balcony in bangladesh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is way over a month late mostly because i have this terrible habit of starting new fics when i havent finished ones im already writing smh, also i was on vacation so
> 
> anyway please read and enjoy and leave kudos/comments to let me know what you think :)

Stuart’s POV 

 

Stuart didn’t expect his evening to end with him sitting on a hotel balcony, talking to Steven but he also didn’t expect to lose so spectacularly to Bressie in the final of the Call of Duty tournament. In the end he was forced to leave his room to escape the taunts from the other lads. He’d been walking around the halls for a few minutes, wondering where he was supposed to go since he’d been so unceremoniously kicked out of his own room when he saw Steven sitting on one of the wooden benches in the balcony on their hotel floor overlooking the city.

 

The sun was beginning to set over Chittagong, casting a pink hue on the sky and the city as well. Stuart went and sat down on the bench next to him, facing the city as it lit up with street lamps and city lights while the sky grew darker. He didn’t know what compelled him to go and sit next to him. Steven had obviously wanted to be alone right now or he wouldn’t have left the tournament so early. Stuart had seen him leave and had even been nudged by Swanny painfully when it happened as if he would know why. Stuart had only shrugged in response and then continued beating Colly in the game, trying to not be too worried about his teammate who he’d just met.

 

The sun dipped even lower as the balcony lights switched on and for a while the only sound they could hear were people and cars on the street below. Stuart absentmindedly scratched at his tattoo which had been tingling on and off the whole evening as he broke the comfortable silence.

 

“Good game in there.”

 

He smiled at Steven who turned to look at him for the first time and smiled back.

 

“Thanks you too. Did you end up winning then?”

 

“Nah, I wish. Bressie annihilated me in the final.”

 

Steven’s mouth turned into an almost comical “o”. “What? How? I didn’t think Bressie would even make it to the final!”

 

Stuart sighed, disappointed. “Yeah, no one did.”

 

“Aw, it’s alright mate. You can always win next time,” he said, reassuringly with a small smile. Steven’s words were strangely tender and Stuart was even more confused when Steven followed them up with an awkward reach of his arm towards Stuart which he retracted then, as if he had been considering patting his shoulder but then decided against it.  

 

Stuart’s tattoo was already prickling but it stung suddenly and he almost flinched but he couldn’t help but smile despite himself at this young fast bowler who he was starting to find endearing, weirdly enough.

 

However, he was determined not to let it show too much while he patted his leg trying to soothe the sting, so he followed his cheesy grin with a measured, “Yeah, thanks.”

 

He’d decided before that he wasn’t going to ask this, that it wasn’t his place to know or question him about it but in the end it wasn’t him being nosy or mild curiosity; he was genuinely worried about Steven. So he went ahead and asked, albeit hesitantly, “Um, you left the room pretty early. Is everything alright?”

 

 

Steven’s POV 

 

To say that Steven was shocked at Stuart’s question would be an understatement. He couldn’t have ever imagined that Stuart Broad, of all people, would notice or care whether Steven left a room early or even showed up at all. He’s been pretty surprised as well when Stuart had joined him on the balcony but he’d chalked it up to a beautiful view. But this? This he couldn’t find a reason for.

 

Steven was determined to give a more normal reply this time, unlike the one he gave earlier where he almost patted Stuart’s shoulder but instead ended up just extending his arm awkwardly and retracting it, embarrassing himself completely in front of this beautiful, bowling masterclass. Before he could reply though, Stuart hurriedly said, “Sorry, you don’t have to tell me. I shouldn’t have asked. It’s none of my business.”

 

“No, no, it’s okay. I was just feeling a bit, um,” he hesitated, unsure suddenly of whether he should be sharing this with his new teammate but looking at Stuart’s furrowed eyebrows and earnest expression, he carried on. “I was just feeling a bit overwhelmed, to be honest. I’m still kind of in shock that I’m actually here? And there were so many world class, international players there just sitting around the room and playing Xbox with me for God’s sake!” He laughed, mostly to himself but Stuart smiled as well.

 

“Yeah, it does take a bit of time getting used to it and feeling like you really belong,” Stuart said kindly.

 

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it, to be honest,” Steven admitted. He looked down, embarrassed. His tattoo prickled wildly, more than it had all night, as if sensing his mood. He couldn’t have imagined telling anyone this before but Stuart made him feel comfortable and he found that he didn’t mind telling him this.

 

“Yeah, you will, definitely. I’ve watched you bowl. You’re really good and you seem like a good lad. You’ll fit in. Not to mention, you’re a threat to my position on the team, aren’t you?” Stuart said with a teasing smile on his face.

 

Steven, regretting ever saying anything about that, protested instantly, “No, I was joking when I said that I swear! As if I could ever match up to your bowling.” He didn’t mean to sound self-deprecating but a fact was a fact and Stuart Broad was one of the greatest fast bowlers England had and Steven was far from being as good as him.

 

Stuart frowned slightly and said, “Yeah mate, I know you were just kidding. But you’re really good as well. I mean it; I saw you at practice the other day and you bowled some beautiful balls. I know the bowling coach, Saker, was really impressed with you.”

 

Steven’s smiled widely when he heard that and he couldn’t help but ask, “Really?”

 

“Yes, really,” replied Stuart, now smiling at him in a way that could only be described as fond.

 

Steven’s chest had a weird bubbly feeling in it after that, which matched the tingling on his shoulder and the both continued for the rest of the evening as him and Stuart sat till late into the night on the balcony, talking about everything, it seemed, from the football premier league going on to the new season of Grey’s Anatomy to how the food in Bangladesh compared to the food back home.  Their conversation didn’t seem like it was going to end as the night progressed and Steven found himself growing more and more comfortable around Stuart.

 

As the sky grew darker and the moon shone brighter and the conversation shifted to the upcoming release of the new Call of Duty video game, Steven put his arms behind his head and stretched his legs into a more comfortable position. As he did so, his leg brushed Stuart's who immediately yelped and jerked away as if he had been burned just as Steven's tattoo stung worse than ever. Stuart grabbed his thigh and rubbed at it, a look of surprise on his face, matched by the one on Steven's as well. However, Stuart’s expression slowly changed to one that resembled realization and he then stared into the distance with shock written all over his face. Steven was thoroughly confused by his reaction and this whole situation but Stuart offered no explanation as he stood up abruptly.

 

“Are you okay?” Steven asked, concerned about Stuart’s sudden change in behavior.

 

Stuart answered with a flustered look on his face, “Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I, um, I need to go do something. Sorry.”

 

And with that he walked off hurriedly, leaving a bewildered Steven sitting behind on the balcony.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> questions about love, life and destiny (and a jimmy intervention)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh look a new chapter posted within a month!! shocking!! anyway thank you for reading so far and i hope you enjoy this
> 
> this chapter is actually dedicated to a few people so here goes:  
> this is for my best friend who unknowingly inspired this chapter when i called her freaking out over boys and she calmed me down. she doesnt even know this fic exists n will never read this but this is for her  
> this is also for my wonderful beta, eman, who, despite a million uni essays to submit, reads my chapters and edits them and listens to my 4 am rants about these boys  
> this is also for kuttubiya because she (also unknowingly) inspired me with her comment on [my other fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12627345) so thank you so much to all 3 of these beautiful people
> 
> please read and enjoy :)

Stuart’s POV

 

Stuart sat on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands, trying to process what had just happened. The boys had cleared out of his room by now, thankfully, leaving a huge mess of empty pizza boxes and water bottles all over the place, but Stuart didn’t mind it that much since he got some peace and quiet at least, to get his thoughts in order.

 

His mind was racing and he was struggling to deal with emotion after emotion as they all overcame him one by one. He’d wanted to discover who his soulmate was for so long but now that he had, all he felt was confusion and shock and a bit blindsided. How could he not have realized? The signs were all there. His tattoo always tingled like crazy every time he was near Steven. It had prickled constantly while they were playing Xbox and, he realized now, only subsided when Steven left the room. It had started tingling again as he walked in the hotel corridors and continued all through their conversation on the balcony. It had now finally stopped but he was sure that, despite the lack of tingling, if he pulled up his shorts his thigh would still be marked with fading words outlining Steven’s current thoughts.

 

He’d always wanted a soulmate, that’s for sure. As a hopeless romantic, the thought of having someone who would love you with the promise of forever had always appealed to him. But here he was now, having found his soulmate and at a loss of what to do next.

 

Frustrated, Stuart ran his hands through his hair. He grabbed his phone off the bed from where he’d tossed it when he’d entered his room. His notifications were filled with messages on the group chat, mocking his defeat against Bressie, but all of that felt like it had happened days ago, instead of a mere few hours. As he ignored the group chat, he scrolled down to see a new message from Jimmy and Stuart realized he did know one person who maybe knew what this felt like and could help him figure out what he’s supposed to do now. Pressing call, he waited as patiently as he could, jiggling his leg and drumming his fingers on his knee. 

 

Jimmy picked up with a typical, “Hello?” sounding very grumpy and sleepy, despite the fact that it was barely 6 pm in England.

 

“Hey,” Stuart replied, a bit nervous now. He hadn’t told anyone about his tattoo yet and he knew Jimmy wouldn’t freak out on him because he tended to stay calm about most things and Stuart was the one who usually freaked out, but, all the same, he was a bit scared about how he’d react.

 

“What’s up? Is everything alright?”

 

“Yeah, everything’s fine. It’s just, uh,” Stuart cleared his throat, wondering how he should say this. “A few days ago I found something on my leg and, uh-”

 

“Wait, pause. You haven’t dialed the physio here. It’s me, Jimmy. Please don’t start telling me about weird growths on your body, I really don’t need to hear about them. I get enough of that from Swanny.”

 

“It’s not a weird growth! I mean, it is kind of a growth but it’s not weird! Actually it is kind of weird but not in the medical way. It’s, um, it’s a tattoo, actually,” Stuart told him, biting his lip.

 

“You got a tattoo? Why? I thought you didn’t like tattoos. You spent 15 minutes insulting KP and his tattoos last tour when he made fun of your haircut,” Jimmy said, sounding very confused.

 

“He deserved that and more and no, I didn’t get a tattoo. I just, um, found one on me?” Stuart said uncertainly, unsure of how he should say this.

 

“You found one on you,” Jimmy said slowly. “How did you find a tattoo on you without ever getting it inked, Stu?”

 

“Well, it’s, you know,” Stuart said pointedly, hoping Jimmy would catch his drift.

 

“No I really don’t know, Stu. What are you on about?”

 

“It’s a soulmate tattoo,” Stuart said, sighing at how dense Jimmy could be sometimes. 

 

“Oh okay. Good for you then, mate,” Jimmy said warmly.

 

“Is it though?” Stuart asked.

 

“Is it what?” Jimmy sounded confused again.

 

“Is it good for me? I mean, I always wanted a soulmate and now I’ve found mine and I’ve met him and everything but what do I do now? Where do I go from here? Where do  _ we  _ go from here?”

 

“Wait, hold up. You know who he is? How?”

 

“Oh, um, my tattoo tingled more than usual around him and then my leg touched his and it just burned then, you know? It’s faded now but, yeah, I’m sure it’s him.”

 

“Huh. Okay then. Yeah go on with your rant.”

 

“It’s not a rant! My life’s a mess and I’m trying to figure it out!”

 

“Yeah, okay, sorry. Anyway does this guy know as well? Have you talked to him about it?”

 

“No! How can I? What am I even supposed to say to him? How do I act? Should I even tell him or should I wait till he figures it out? And when he figures it out, should I pretend like I don’t know or should I tell him I’ve known all along? Won’t he be upset that I didn’t tell him? And what if he does exactly as I plan to do and he never tells me and plans to wait for me to say something except I won’t ever say anything because I’m waiting for him to say something? Or what if he never figures it out and I keep waiting and he just lives the rest of his life never content but without ever figuring it out and I’m left all alone because I don’t have the guts to tell my soulmate I’m his soulmate? Or what if I tell him now and he freaks out and acts all weird about it and doesn’t want to be my soulmate? What happens then?” Stuart ended his tirade, feeling very out of breath and exhausted.

 

“Okay Stu I need you to breathe now, okay? Take a deep breath and just relax.” Jimmy said in a calm, soothing voice. Stuart complied and tried to steady his heart rate while Jimmy continued.

 

“Okay now, first, of course he’ll want to be your soulmate. And second, how long have you known he’s your soulmate?”

 

“Like, um, 20 minutes I think.”

 

“Alright. And you’re sure it’s him?”

 

“Yeah, positive. When you first touch your soulmate for the first time your tattoo tingles sharper than it normally does, everyone knows that.”

 

“Well, I didn’t know that, but okay. Anyway, how well do you know him so far? You said you’ve talked. How many times was that?”

 

“A few times. Three, I think. And I kind of know him. We talked a lot tonight and he’s really nice and funny and he’s really cute. And he’s young but he’s so talented. You should’ve seen him bowl at practice, it was so beautiful.”

 

“Right, okay, I don’t need to hear about how his bowling turned you on, thank you very much. So what you do now is, you just relax, act normal, or at least try to, and get to know him a bit more. You can’t tell him just yet, you don’t know each other well enough, I think. The universe has already decided you two will end up together so now just let it do its job. But you do like him right?”

 

“Yeah I do. He’s really nice you know? And it’s weird but like ever since I figured out it’s him, I’ve sort of been able to see us together? Like maybe it’s some weird thing with the tattoo as well but I can see myself falling for him. I’ve talked to him once properly but I can see it. He’s just so tall and clumsy and he makes the most terrible jokes and he says the dumbest things but he’s so cute when he says them. And he was so honest and open about his dreams and his fears and hopes for the future when we talked. And he has such a genuine smile and nicest, kindest eyes.”

 

“Yes alright, I think I’ve got it, mate,” Jimmy said, clearly trying to sound annoyed but sounding amused in the end. “You sound a bit lovesick there.” 

 

Stuart laughed softly, “A bit too soon for that. Maybe in a few months.”

 

Jimmy only hummed in reply.

 

They stayed silent for a minute, still on call with each other, before Stuart broke the silence. 

 

“It’s a bit weird though, isn’t it? I’ve met the person I’m destined to be with no matter what. This is it for me. It just feels weird. Exciting and all, but a bit weird.”

 

“Yeah, it is.”

 

As the excitement of finding his soulmate wore off, Stuart felt his eyes begin to close and the day’s exhaustion overcome him. He thanked Jimmy and made him promise he’d Skype on the weekend after the Test and hung up, settling back onto his bed more comfortably.  

 

Meeting his soulmate was all very nice to dream of, but now that it’s actually happened, now that he knows that this is it, this is the person he will end up with no matter where he goes in life, or what choice he makes, he feels overwhelmed and unprepared. Jimmy’s advice was good though, he needs to not make any rash decisions and just let destiny or fate or whatever do their thing and bring them together.

 

But how does anyone does anyone with a soulmate deal with this? How does anyone realize that they’ve met the person they’re destined to be with and just wait for fate to bring them together, whenever it may? Stuart wasn’t known for his patience so how was he expected to reign himself in when something so huge, so magical was happening in his life?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> stuart has some bad coping mechanisms and the wooing masters intervene

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello im back with a chapter! fair warning, this fic is getting more and more ridiculous by the chapter. 
> 
> also [shoaib malik](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoaib_Malik) and [sania mirza](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sania_Mirza) are mentioned so for anyone who doesn't know shoaib is a pakistani allrounder and sania is a badass indian tennis player. oh and they're married.
> 
> also, i am looking for a second beta for when feb starts so if anyone's interested please comment below or hit me up on my [tumblr](http://storm-alert.tumblr.com) it's not a lot of work, you just have to proof read chaps every 2 weeks or every month and sometimes give me advice on plotlines/summaries etc
> 
> and credit to [kuttubiya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuttubiya) for one of the scenes because she gave me the idea for it.
> 
> ok im done, happy reading and thank you for reading so far!

Steven’s POV

 

When Steven showed up to practice the next day, he wasn’t as early as last time or as early as he’d liked to have been. He’d missed his alarms and the only reason he’d woken up was because his tattoo had suddenly started to prickle as he slept and then stopped as abruptly as it started. When he stumbled out of bed to examine it, it had only said _“bloody practice”_ and with that reminder, he leapt into action, realizing just how late he was. He’d been distracted the night before and hadn’t slept till late despite his best efforts. His mind kept wandering to the evening with Stuart, looking for something he might have said or done that might have warranted his sudden and unexplained retreat.

 

When Steven arrived, most of the team was already gathered at the nets. As he entered, a few heads turned in his direction, including Stuart who quickly looked away. Steven tried not to let that bother him and changed into his kit in record time and joined the team.

 

“Finny, you’ll be bowling at me first and then Broady as well,” Alastair told him as he approached.

 

Stuart, who had been deep in conversation with Graeme up till now, turned towards them indignantly, “What? No! What? Ali, why?”

 

Alastair looked unimpressed. “Because, Stuart, you promised you would work more on your batting. Now go and bowl at Colly in the nets, I’ll let you know when you should get padded up for batting.”

 

Stuart looked like he was ready to say something right back when Paul Collingwood showed up behind him and dragged him to the nets before he could say another word.

 

Alastair shouted a grateful, “Thanks!” at his back and turned back to Steven who was now extremely confused.  

 

Alastair saw the look on Steven’s face and said, “Don’t mind him; he’s just in one of his moods today. He isn’t usually like this.”

 

“Yeah, no, it’s fine,” he replied, feeling shy suddenly. “It wasn’t about that. Um, anyway, are you ready to have a go then?”

 

“Yeah just let me finish padding up. I’ll be there in a minute.”

 

Steven nodded in reply and went to the nets, measuring his run up and marking his place and trying to clear his mind.

 

Steven focused on his bowling after that, working with the coaches and Alastair as they discussed the expected pitch for the match the next day and how Steven should bowl then. He had successfully pushed all thoughts of blond boys with blue eyes out of his head until, of course, just as Steven was turning around to head back to his mark after bowling to Alastair, he showed up right in front of him. Before Steven could say anything, Stuart looked over his shoulder at Alastair who was standing behind him and spoke to him only.

 

“Are you done yet? I want to get this over with.” Stuart walked around Steven towards Alastair and Steven was left staring at his back as the other man walked past him towards Alastair.

 

“Yeah, just one more ball and then you can have a go.” Alastair swung his bat and readied himself as Steven positioned himself at his mark. From the corner of his eye, Steven saw Stuart watching him with his arms crossed. He closed his eyes for a second, envisioned the ball he was about to bowl and began his run up. As he released the ball, he smiled, knowing what was to come. His smile grew larger as the ball went past Alastair’s defenses, shattering the stumps. He heard a sharp intake of breath from Stuart’s direction and he turned to look at him questioningly but Stuart looked away immediately and started padding up.

 

Steven repositioned himself at the mark, scratching his tingling shoulder, waiting for Stuart to be ready to receive his first ball.

 

“Go easy on me, yeah? None of that lightning fast stuff you just bowled,” Stuart said as he stretched and prepared to be bowled at.

 

Alastair immediately replied from the neighbouring nets. “Stuart, you promised.”

 

“Alright, fine, give me that lightning stuff Finny. Do your worst,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Happy?” he said to Alastair who sighed and shook his head turning away from them as the batting coach placed the ball machine in front of him.

 

Steven bit his lip, waiting for the exchange to be over and trying not to replay Stuart saying “Finny” over and over again in his head. Stuart adjusted the pad on his thigh and readjusted his helmet, taking his time, before setting his bat down and turning to face Steven.

 

Steven ran in and bowled, watching as Stuart defended it solidly. He did go easy on him but for the first few balls only. He then started increasing his pace, until Stuart, tempted by a shorter ball, dropped his defensive stance and tried to play the hook shot and messed it up, making an easy catch for deep backward square if they were playing a real match right now. Stuart cursed under his breath, realizing what he’d just done and Steven went to say something to comfort him but decided against it and returned to bowl again.

 

The rest of practice continued in the same manner; Steven bowled quicker and quicker and Stuart tried to play or block each delivery as best as he could but the ball found the stumps or his front pad more often than not. Stuart was clearly frustrated and annoyed by the time Alastair called them out for fielding practice and he stalked out ahead of Steven, not looking back at him.

 

Steven changed out his sweat-soaked shirt into another cleaner one as the boys lined up for catching practice. He went and stood next to Luke Wright, trying to focus on his fielding rather than the fact that he’d somehow managed to annoy Stuart Broad twice in 12 hours.

 

 

Stuart’s AU

 

Stuart wasn’t having a good morning. In fact, he hadn’t had a very good night either and he knew that it was all down to the fact that Jimmy Anderson gives shit advice. It sounds all sensible and nice when he says it but when you have to actually follow it, it’s impossible. How can Jimmy expect Stuart to just “relax” and “be normal” when he’s met his soulmate? And his soulmate can apparently bowl really, really well and  _ fast _ and nails his line and length with every ball and sets up the batsman for a wicket perfectly. And maybe Stuart wasn’t the smartest batsman, which is why he fell for every one of Steven’s bowling traps but Steven bowled  _ really _ well, there was no denying that _.  _ How is he supposed to act perfectly normal when his soulmate is clearly destined to be one of the best fast bowlers in England’s history who also bowled Alastair Cook with the most beautiful ball ever? And Stuart was trying, he really was. He tried not to look at him when he entered (he failed) and he tried to avoid him and not interact with him too much so he wouldn’t slip up (he failed again, thanks a lot Alastair).

 

Batting practice with Steven was a whole other nightmare. First, he completely dropped the nonchalant, couldn’t-care-less attitude that he had worked really hard to perfect before and ended up showing how impressed he was by Finny’s ball to Alastair. Then, he batted horribly when he faced Steven in the nets, getting out on more balls than he survived, embarrassing himself completely. His soulmate tattoo wasn’t helping either; it tingled at the worst possible moments like when he was just about to play a shot so his hand would automatically twitch towards it to itch the annoying twinge away and he'd end up missing the ball. Oh and, let's not forget him calling Steven, Finny, to his face accidentally and then he found the resulting blush that spread across Steven’s face absolutely adorable. He's hopeless, clearly.

 

When Alastair lined them up for catching practice Stuart was determined to not mess it up so he stood as far away from Steven as he could, even if it meant he had to stand next to KP. Unfortunately, he was still right across from Steven, who had decided to change into another shirt, right there and then. Steven had his back to him as he changed, but Stuart caught an eyeful of well-defined back muscles and he involuntarily took a sharp intake of breath. He looked away almost immediately, but not before the image was ingrained in his mind. Damn. What was that Jimmy said about taking it slow? It was looking more and more difficult by the second.

 

It went well other than that; he caught the ball every time it came near him and even resisted laughing when KP dived for a catch meant for Stuart and then dropped it. He also managed to not look in Finny’s direction except for the time he sneaked a glance when he took an absolute blinder and he ended up catching a glimpse of Steven’s smile which lit up his whole face. His is tattoo tingled, as if on cue, so he looked away instantly, willing the twinge to go away so he would be able to focus on catching. Of course, Stuart never gets what he wants so his tattoo continued to smart after that, without showing any signs of stopping.

 

Alastair regrouped them into threes and (Jimmy must've said something to him because this was getting beyond ridiculous) he grouped Stuart up with Finny and Luke Wright. Luke was nice enough; Stuart didn't know him that well but he smiled at them both as they approached and they both smiled back so it was all going smoothly. That was until Alastair launched a shot into the air for Stuart to catch and he was going straight for it; he could see the ball coming down and he was running towards it and then, out of nowhere, his tattoo decided to go absolutely mad and start tingling like crazy. He lost his focus and the ball slipped and then he slipped and it all ended with a dropped catch and Stuart on the ground, glaring at Steven because did he  _ really _ need to think that much? Steven only looked confused in reply and Stuart felt bad immediately because why is Stuart even glaring at him? It wasn't his fault. It all ended with Stuart feeling guilty and embarrassed and just waiting for the day to be over.

 

His sigh of relief when practice ended in the late afternoon was probably too loud and he didn’t miss Alastair rolling his eyes at him in reply but he couldn't be bothered as he hit the showers before anyone else and was ready to leave soon after that. He was just tying his shoelaces when a dark shadow fell upon his corner in the locker room and he looked up to see Ali and Swanny crowded around him.

 

“Mate, we need to talk to you,” Swanny said to him somberly.

 

“Okay..?” Stuart said, confused.

 

“We talked to Jimmy,” Alastair said, unhelpfully.

 

Stuart raised his eyebrows in reply, “And?”

 

Alastair and Swanny exchanged a look before Swanny said, “He told us about- you know- your thing?”

 

Stuart’s confusion made way for betrayal and embarrassment as he looked down again, retying his laces. “Did he now?” he said, tying his laces with more vigor than was necessary.

 

“Yes, he did. Look, you don’t have to worry about it. We can help you. I mean, clearly you need it. You’re not dealing with it too great yourself; you almost shouted at poor Finny today,” Alastair said comfortingly.

“I didn’t mean to! It’s been a difficult day,” Stuart said, annoyed that he was being called out like this.

 

“Yeah, of course, we get that. This stuff can be hard to deal with. We’ve all been there,” Swanny reassured him.

 

“You have?” Stuart asked doubtfully. He was sure Swanny didn’t have soulmate tattoo; he’d have mentioned it for sure, knowing him.

 

“Yeah, yeah sure. Everyone gets a stupid crush once in a while; it’s just a matter of dealing with it right, that’s all,” Swanny said.

 

“Excuse me!” Stuart said, insulted that they’d reduced his soulmate to just a crush. “It is not a stupid crush!”

 

“Yeah, it’s not stupid sorry,” Ali said hastily. “What Swanny meant was, we can help you out with your crush, you know. We’re really quite good; we got Shoaib and Sania together, you know.”

 

“Yes, I’m sure you did,” Stuart deadpanned. This conversation was getting more and more ridiculous by the second.Now that he understood that Jimmy hadn’t told them his secret, he was back to wanting to get out of here. 

 

“We did!” Swanny said, clearly offended that their matchmaking skills had been questioned.

 

“Look, I’m sure you did. I just- I don’t need your help right now. I’m fine,” Stuart said shrugging his shoulders.

 

“No! Okay, look. We can help you woo him. We’re like the wooing masters,” Alastair said, while Swanny nodded his head ferociously next to him.

 

“You’re- what?”

 

“Wooing masters. We help you woo. We help  _ woo  _ woo, if you will,” Swanny said, grinning widely at the terrible pun he just made, while Alastair started laughing uncontrollably. Stuart, on the other hand, just looked very disturbed.

 

“Right. Okay. Guys, I really don’t need your help with this. I’m perfectly fine. Thanks though!” he said in a false cheery voice, hoping he could drive his friends, who’ve clearly gone mad, away.

 

Swanny adopted a mystical tone, placed his hand on Stuart’s shoulder and said, “Ah, young Stuart, if only you were fine. After your performance today in the nets, we can see you’re clearly not fine.” He dropped the weird voice thankfully, because it was starting to freak Stuart out. “You dropped an absolute sitter of a catch today at catching practice, right in front of your lover-boy. Bad form, Stu, bad form.”

 

Stuart was so shocked, he couldn’t reply for the first few seconds. “He is not my lover-boy Swanny! And it wasn’t a sitter! I clearly had to run for it!”

 

Alastair shrugged. “Yeah, but your batting was pathetic as well, when he bowled to you. Do you know how many times he got you out?”

 

“He got you out as well!”

 

“He got me out once. He got you out like 50 times.”

 

Stuart was really resenting getting attacked like this.

 

“Yes but you’re a  _ batsman _ . I’m a tailender. It’s expected.”

 

“No, it’s not. And besides, you promised after South Africa that you would work on your batting remember?”

 

Stuart glared at him; he hated when Alastair brought South Africa up, which was way too often. “Yeah, whatever. I am, aren’t I? Anyway, aren’t you guys supposed to help me woo this guy and not attack me instead?”

 

Swanny looked delighted, “Wait, so you’ll let us help you then? Yes! You won’t regret it Stu!”

 

Stuart only sighed in response, already regretting agreeing to this. He walked away from the two, now excitedly discussing the first step for their plan. As he exited he caught Steven’s eye and smiled at him. Steven smiled back hesitantly. Stuart would allow himself this much; he’d been aloof for long enough now.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the wooing masters are put to work by their grand-master jimmy. a slap, paul collingwood and a cracker are involved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fic is getting out of hand. it's like a rom com or a bollywood movie or both at this point. help.  
> i genuinely apologize for the ridiculousness you're about to read but also thank you for reading so far! happy reading!  
> ALSO: this is set after the first test in Chittagong and the scorecard for the test, if you wanna check it out, can be found [here](http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/13339/scorecard/426423/bangladesh-vs-england-1st-test-england-tour-of-bangladesh-2009-10/)

Stuart’s POV

 

“He’s like one of those little puppies, you know? Or maybe a baby giraffe since he has these loooong legs for days and he’s just falling over all the time-”

 

“Stu-”

 

“Like when he got that wicket off Hossein he ran to celebrate and, I don’t know if they showed this on the tv or not, but he sort of fell onto Colly because he took the catch right? But I don’t think Colly minded that much because, well, you know Colly, but, anyway, it was so adorable; he just doesn’t know where his legs are going and, oh my god, he does this thing with his hair every time he’s frustrated-”

 

“Stuart listen-”

 

“He just sort of swipes at the hair on his forehead, you know? It’s a bit weird but god, it’s so cute and  _ he’s _ so cute and do you think he’d ever let me fix his hair like that for him because I would love to-”

 

“Stuart! Shut up for a minute,” Jimmy interrupted him over the phone, clearly irritated.

 

“Yeah, sorry, what were you saying?”

 

“I wasn’t saying, I was  _ trying  _ to say but you wouldn’t let me talk,” Jimmy said, annoyed.

 

“Okay, what were you  _ trying  _ to say then?” Stuart said, smiling widely, imagining Jimmy’s unimpressed expression when he hears Stuart imitating him.

 

The line is quiet for a second; Jimmy’s probably glaring at some innocent piece of furniture in his house since Stuart’s not there for him to glare at.

 

“I was  _ asking _ actually. Why are you giving Steven the cold shoulder? That’s, like, the exact opposite of what you have to do.”

 

“I’m not giving him the cold shoulder?”

 

“Uh, yeah, you are. Ali and Swanny told me.”

 

“Ali and Swanny told- what is this? Some kind of military operation that you’re commanding from the comforts of your home and Swanny and Ali are your little minions?”

 

“I’m just trying to improve the tragedy that is your love life Stu.”

 

“It is not a tragedy! It’s going perfectly fine!”

 

“Yes and that’s why you’ve been ignoring your soulmate ever since you found out he’s your soulmate.”

 

“I’m not ignoring him! I have a plan. I’m being subtle; nonchalant even. I can’t be too obvious, you know; I have to play this out carefully.”

 

“Stuart, what you’re doing isn’t subtle or nonchalant; you’re pushing him away. You’re supposed to reel him in, like a fish.”

 

“Did you just call my soulmate a fish?”

 

“You called him a puppy and a giraffe and I can’t call him a fish?”

 

“He’s  _ my _ soulmate; I can call him whatever cute animal I want. And fish aren’t even cute. Go call your own soulmate a fish.”

 

There was silence on the other end, once more. Stuart bit his lip, realizing he’d said something he wasn’t supposed to say.

 

Jimmy cleared his throat and continued, ignoring Stuart’s last statement.

 

“ _ Anyway _ , that’s why I told Swanny and Ali to help you out.”

 

“Ah, yes, the wooing masters. Thanks for that, by the way.”

 

Jimmy gave a very un-Jimmy-like snort. “They’re still calling themselves that?”

 

“Yes and they bothered me about hiring them until I agreed.”

 

“I didn’t tell them to do that.”

 

“You shouldn’t have told them in the first place.”

 

“Yeah, well, I’m not there and you need all the help you can get.”

 

Stuart sighed. “Yeah, they said that as well.”

-

“Okay, now listen carefully.” Swanny placed a hand on Stuart’s shoulder, looking straight at him.

 

“I’m listening. Hit me.”

 

Stuart felt a sharp slap on his back after he said that.

 

“Ow! What was that for?”

 

“You said hit me!” Ali protested as Swanny broke into uncontrollable laughter.

 

“I did, but I didn’t actually mean hit me, you fool.” He frowned and stretched his back muscles as his back stung.

 

Swanny managed to catch his breath eventually; it took a while as he clung to Alastair’s arm, struggling to stand upright because he was laughing so hard, while Stuart glared at them both, unimpressed.

 

“Okay, okay, sorry, I’m back.” Swanny took a deep breath and continued. “So what you do is, just talk to him normally, right? None of that cold, weird, ignoring stuff you’ve been doing; this isn’t kindergarten Stu.”

 

Stuart frowned. “Are you going to insult me every time you give me advice?”

Swanny shrugged. “Pretty much.”

 

Stuart rolled his eyes, “Okay, anyway. What else?”

 

“What do you mean what else?” Ali looked confused. “That’s it.”

 

“What do you mean that’s it? I need more! What am I supposed to say?” Stuart said, panicking.

 

“Start with hi maybe?” Swanny said with raised eyebrows.

 

Stuart gave him a hard look. “JImmy said you guys were going to be helpful. This isn’t helpful; this is just common sense.”

 

“So you admit, then, that you lack common sense?” Ali grinned widely.

 

Stuart threw his hands up in the air, frustrated. “Okay, that’s enough, get out of my room.”

 

“Hey! I was just joking, I swear!”

 

“Yeah, whatever. Go plan your field placements or inspect the pitch or something for the next match. Leave me alone,” he said, while attempting, but not succeeding very well, to push Ali and Swanny out of the room.

 

Ali stopped resisting against Stuart’s pushes and, eventually, they were outside Stuart’s hotel room door and he was able to slam the door shut on their faces, much to his satisfaction.

 

-

 

When Stuart saw Steven next, he didn’t actually see him first, per se; his tattoo actually alerted him to his presence. He had just ambushed Colly to talk about the seating arrangements for their trip to Dhaka for the 2nd test and trying to convince him to keep Stuart’s seat away from Swanny and Ali but Colly was being really unhelpful as usual.

 

“Look, all I need is for you to make an arrangement and keep me as far from Swanny and Ali as possible.”

 

“Stuart, I don’t make the arrangements for the seats. No one does! Just sit where ever you want, for God’s sake.”

 

“No but I need you to make an arrangement. Please, I won’t make it to Dhaka if you don’t.”

 

“Don’t be so dramatic. What are they teasing you about, anyway?”

 

“As if I’d tell you! You’d just tease me as well.”

 

“That’s true. Is it about your boy Steven then?”

 

And at that moment, Stuart’s tattoo decided to tingle and he turned around abruptly to see Steven entering the hotel restaurant. Stuart’s heart skipped a beat. He turned back around to Colly first, though, because he had some facts to straighten out before he started to “woo” Steven.

 

“He’s not my “boy” Colly. And how do you even know? Did Jimmy get to you as well?”

 

“No, I saw you two looking very cozy on the balcony,” he waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Stuart glared at him. How difficult was it to be taken seriously around here?

 

“But, wait, you told Jimmy before you told me?” Colly continued. “I’m hurt, Stuart, I really am. I thought we had something.”

 

Stuart grimaced. “Oh, be quiet. You’re useless.”

 

“You weren’t saying that in bed last week!” Colly practically shouted at his back as Stuart walked away, causing several heads to turn in his direction. Stuart shook his head and smiled and then immediately walked straight into a  _ very _ tall man standing right in his way. Steven fell back slightly and Stuart grabbed his arm to steady him. His tattoo burned again, but not as sharply as it had on the balcony.

 

“Hey, you alright? Sorry about that. I didn’t see you there.” Stuart gave Steven his most dazzling smile and it grew larger as he felt his tattoo tingle more.

 

Steven smiled back nervously.

 

“Yeah, I’m alright. Thanks.”

 

“Were you just getting dinner as well?”

 

Steven nodded. “Yeah, I was.”

 

Stuart took the window of opportunity opened for him. “Oh, do you mind if I join you?”

 

Steven smiled again, looking a little confused this time. “Uh, yeah, sure.”

 

Stuart followed him to an empty table for two and a waiter immediately joined them to take their order. As Stuart placed the menu back down, he caught a glimpse of some frantic waving over Steven’s shoulder. His smiled dropped when he saw Swanny and Ali smiling and waving and giving him thumbs up signs from behind Steven. Steven saw the change in his expression as he too looked up from his menu.

 

“What? What happened?” He turned his head around to follow Stuart’s line of sight but, thankfully, Swanny and Alastair had composed themselves by then and were now studiously reading their menus. Ali’s menu, Stuart noticed, was upside down. 

 

“Nothing. I just thought I saw something; it’s fine.” Stuart covered up hastily as Steven looked back at him again.

 

Steven looked more confused but he nodded his head slowly and placed his order with the waiter.

 

Stuart cursed inwardly but put on a big smile instead, hoping the awkwardness would pass.

 

“Is everything okay? You’re smiling a bit weirdly. Is there something on my face?” Steven continued to look worried. “Or, wait, is that your normal smile? I’m so sorry if that’s your normal smile. It’s a very nice smile, not weird at all; ignore what I said before.”

 

Finny said all this breathlessly and Stuart smiled again, normally this time, hopefully; he couldn’t help but be endeared by this awkward man who stumbled over both his legs and his words. 

 

“No, I’m fine and it’s fine.” He bit his lip then, before continuing and felt his tattoo twinge at that, weirdly enough. “I actually wanted to apologize to you, about how I’ve been acting. I haven’t been myself lately and I realized I’ve been a bit distant and rude with you.”

 

“Oh.” Steven looked down onto the table as he said that. 

 

Stuart went on, “And I was hoping to make it up to you. Maybe I could take you out sometime when we’re in Dhaka? I know this really amazing little market and they have the best fruit salad there called fruit  _ chaat _ . Straussy recommended it to me.”

 

Stuart did a little celebratory dance in his head at how smooth that went as he continued to give Steven his most charming smile. Steven, who had looked up by now, looked completely shocked. 

 

Stuart waited for a reply but his smile began to fall as Steven provided no answer and continued to just stare at him.

 

“Or not. You don’t have to. It was just an idea; it’s fine,” Stuart said quickly, his cheeks colouring with the embarrassment of being rejected. 

 

“No, no, I want to go with you. I do,” Steven said and Stuart’s hopes perked up again.

 

“It’s just, um.” Steven hesitated and Stuart’s heart sank again. 

 

“Aren’t you and Paul Collingwood kind of, you know, a thing?”

 

Stuart couldn’t stop himself from laughing then.

 

“What?” he asked, still laughing.

 

Steven blushed this time and looked down on the table, fiddling with the stitching on the table cloth.

 

“Well, he kind of did just announce to the entire restaurant that you slept together last week so, I don’t know, I just assumed-”

 

Stuart couldn’t stop smiling now and Steven noticed as he stopped talking abruptly.

 

“Me and Colly aren’t a thing; he was just joking.” Stuart tried to stop smiling but he couldn’t as he saw Finny’s face morph from distress to relief. 

 

“Oh,” Steven said, biting his lip. 

 

“Yeah,” Stuart said, a small smile playing at his lips.

 

“Okay, so yes then.”

 

“Yes?” Stuart asked confused.

 

Steven looked uncertain. “Yes to the date you just asked me on?” he asked slowly.

 

“Oh! Oh yeah. Yeah, great.” He grinned widely; his cheeks were starting to ache with all the smiling he’d done so far.

 

Steven smiled back at him as the waiter arrived with their food. 

 

Stuart picked up his fork and was about to dig in to the vegetable curry he’d ordered when a loud bang made them both jump and their cutlery clatter to the floor. They both turned towards the source of the noise that seemed to come from behind Steven and saw a very sheepish Alastair holding an already exploded Christmas cracker in his hand as Swanny shook with silent laughter next to him. 

 

“Sorry, sorry, um, nothing to see here,” Ali said, his cheeks a dark red under the stares of everyone in the restaurant. He elbowed Swanny who was almost out of his chair because he was laughing so hard.  

 

Stuart sighed, watching the two. Steven turned around to him again.

 

“What was that about?”

 

“I have no idea,” Stuart said smiling now, as Swanny and Ali gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up each and wide grins from behind Steven.

 

-

 

“It worked.”

 

“Of course it did. Now what worked, exactly?”

 

“Ali and Swanny’s advice; I followed it and I asked Finny out.”

 

“I told you so. They’re not half bad are they?”

 

“No they’re not, surprisingly.”

 

Stuart could practically hear Jimmy’s endeared smile over the phone as hung up and continued to pack his bags for the trip to Dhaka.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the ride to dhaka where stuart packs them a picnic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been a very long wait for this chapter, sorry about that! i wrote a loooong chapter so i split it and now the next one will be up tomorrow? the day after? whenever my beta reads it? probably the last option?
> 
> this is for my wonderful betas. I'm sorry I nagged you so much <3
> 
> also a special thank you to everyone who sent me such kind messages when i had a scare last week. you're all amazing and beautiful and just lovely <3
> 
> this is also for @malikroyalty. thank you for your lovely comments and feedback. i hope you like this

Steven’s POV

 

Steven’s day didn't start off too well. First, he barely got any sleep thanks to his tattoo’s incessant tingling throughout the night. At around 4 AM, when he was woken up the 3rd time by the prickling sensation on his shoulder, he finally gave into his curiosity and checked it in the mirror to see what was keeping his soulmate so occupied that he couldn't sleep.

 

He blinked a few times, straining his sleep-deprived eyes to read the swirling words inked on his shoulder.

 

 _“can’t believe he said-”_ shifted rapidly to form _“sooo tall”_  which disappeared almost as quickly and became _“can’t wait for dhaka now”_

 

It became apparent to him that his soulmate was keeping them both awake with his excitement for the second test and while Steven could relate to that, he would really love to get to sleep as well. All the same, his heart skipped a beat as the words changed around on his skin, reminding him of his soulmate who was out there, on this very hotel floor, probably.  

 

He finally managed to get some sleep at around 5 AM but was woken up again at 7 to a knock on his door. He stumbled out bed, nearly tripping over his kit bag and found Alastair, of all people, outside his door, looking sheepish and very apologetic.

 

“Hi, sorry to wake you. It’s just that we need to leave soon, so I thought I should wake you up.”

 

Steven was confused. “But I thought our flight for Dhaka is at 1 in the afternoon? And it’s,” he paused to check his watch, “only 7 right now?”

 

Alastair grimaced, looking even more apologetic now. “Yeah it was but the fuel tankers have been on strike so there’s no airplane fuel so all the flights have been delayed or cancelled. We could wait it out but we thought it’s best we get to Dhaka as soon as possible and get training ahead of the next test.”

 

Steven rubbed his eyes blearily, trying to get his sleep deprived brain to comprehend this.

 

“Wait, so if there aren’t any flights, how are we getting to Dhaka?”

 

“By bus,” Alastair said hesitantly, gauging his reaction.

 

“Right,” Steven nodded slowly. “And when do we leave?”

 

“In about 15 minutes?” Alastair bit his lip this time, looking sorrier than ever.

 

Steven just nodded. “Okay. I’m already packed. I’ll just freshen up and meet you downstairs in 10.”

 

He received a relieved smile in return.

 

“Okay, brilliant. I have to go wake the others up, now. I just know Stuart’s going to throw a hissy fit when I tell him.”

 

Alastair rolled his eyes as he said this but he looked fond.

 

Steven’s pulse quickened at the mention of his date’s name. He’d very nearly forgotten about it, what with the lack of sleep and finding out that he had to sit through a long bus ride to a whole other city but now that he remembered, the excitement and the nerves were back.

 

When he'd left lunch that afternoon he'd felt weird. He was happy, of course but a part of him felt like he was letting his soulmate down. Was it cheating if you go out with someone else, knowing your soulmate was out there? And not just out there; his soulmate was on tour with him. Of course, there was the fact that he didn't know who it was yet but at the same time, shouldn't it feel wrong to date someone else? And was it bad that it didn't feel wrong?

 

He genuinely wanted to go out with Stuart. He'd been so fun and so awfully nice that day in the balcony and Steven had also enjoyed his lunch with him immensely yesterday so who could blame him for saying yes to this date? Spending an afternoon with an attractive, intriguing man and the promise of delicious _desi_ food to go with was an offer he couldn’t refuse.

 

-

 

Steven had finished getting dressed and done a final check of his hotel room to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything before he grabbed his packed bags and headed out. He was just pushing his bags out of his room and trying to not trip over the strap of his kit bag in the process when he heard a loud shout coming from a few rooms down the corridor. Swanny then appeared, practically sprinting out of the room followed by a very annoyed and completely drenched Stuart Broad. He was wearing only shorts and a thin, white shirt which was now almost see-through because of the water that had been thrown on it and, once Steven caught sight of the white shirt sticking to and showing Stuart's well-defined, muscled chest, he had a hard time looking away from it. Stuart gave up chasing Swanny half way down the corridor and resorted to just shouting threats at his back and stopped right near Steven.

 

He wiped the water dripping down from his hair out of his eyes, pushing his hair back in the process, and turned to look at Steven with a smile on his face.

 

Steven knew that this was around the time that he should say something, anything. Even a simple “hi” would do but his mind was blank and all he could think was that, somehow, the most attractive man he had ever met had asked him on a date and that he was now standing in front of him in a dripping wet, white t-shirt that wasn’t leaving much to the imagination. There was no way this was actually happening to him. He must be more sleep deprived than he thought.

 

“Hey,” Stuart said casually.

 

Steven felt his face redden and he scrambled to think of a reply as he stared at Stuart, mouth open slightly.

 

Stuart raised his eyebrows at him, questioningly.

 

“Um,” Steven finally managed to say. “I have to go?”

 

He grabbed his bags hurriedly, slinging his kit bag over his shoulder and pulling the rest behind him as fast as he could, leaving behind the unholy sight of Stuart in his skin-tight and now see-through t-shirt. He made it to the elevator and got inside in record time and as the doors closed, the last thing he saw was Stuart staring back at him, looking very confused.

 

-

 

Steven hardly noticed the walk through the lobby and to the bus. His embarrassing encounter with Stuart just played over and over in his head as walked out. He didn't realize when he climbed onto the bus or when he'd handed his bags over to be loaded in to the back and sat on a random seat near the front. He didn't even see Kevin Pietersen climb into the bus right behind him until he dropped down on the twin seats on his left. He jumped slightly as KP gave a loud sigh from where he was slumped on the seat.

 

“Are you okay?” Steven asked, jolted from his thoughts and slightly worried about his teammate collapsing on the seat like that.

 

KP just sighed again. “Yes, I'm fine,” he said, looking dramatically out of the window.

 

“I just don't know how I'm going to survive a 5 hour trip to Dhaka in a bus,” he said after a few seconds of silence. “I need a comfortable seat. I _need_ my business class seat. I need hot towels and cashew nuts and some leg room. I mean, is that too much too ask for?” He looked at Steven questioningly, as if genuinely asking him. Steven panicked, unsure of why he was being put on the spot like this.

 

“No?” he said, hoping it would suffice.

 

“Exactly. See, you get it.” KP smiled at him unexpectedly and Steven resisted the urge to recoil.

 

He nodded slowly, hoping his lack of response would discourage KP from further conversation. Apparently, he was wrong.

 

“You're Steven right? I've heard about you. You're friends with Broad, aren't you? And I've seen you talking to Chef and Swann as well.”

 

KP’s expression was cool, neutral as he said this and Steven was unsure how to answer at first.

 

“Uh, yeah. I am friends with them. Kind of.”

 

KP nodded thoughtfully and there was a short pause before he spoke again.

 

“Me and Chef were close, you know. Before he met Swann and James Anderson, that is.”  He gave a short, bitter laugh. “Then suddenly, he forgot about me. I was dropped like a hot potato and replaced by those immature, talentless, annoying-” KP stopped suddenly and his eyes grew wide, as if he was just realizing Steven was there. KP laughed nervously.

 

“Sorry about that. I didn't mean it. They're great guys. They're my teammates, after all. Can't go around thinking they're talentless.”

 

He gave him a smile that was clearly forced and Steven didn't bother returning it this time; KP clearly held a grudge.

 

He cleared his throat awkwardly and, unfortunately for Steven, decided to continue. “So, you, uh, bowled decently in the last test. Good speeds.” He almost looked impressed. Almost. “Of course, you know, the pitch _was_ a bowling pitch. It was way trickier to bat on in but I managed it well enough.” He then gave a very drawn out, long-suffering sigh and looked at Steven expectantly, as if expecting him to agree.

 

Steven gave a short nod after a beat, realizing why KP was giving him that look.

 

KP smiled, apparently satisfied with his response.

 

“I mean, it _was_ annoying to get out on 99 and then on 32 but the second innings pitch was _terrible_ , if you ask me. That's why I couldn't get a big score. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I top scored in the innings so small victories, eh?” He gave Steven a look as if they shared some inside joke and Steven really couldn't help but feel extremely disturbed by KP’s expression.

 

“Actually, Belly and Ali top scored in that innings. You tied for third highest score with Swanny,” came an amused voice from near the door of the bus. Steven turned to see Stuart standing there with a smirk on his face as KP snapped back.

 

“I didn't get the same score as Swann! That isn't possible!” KP looked outraged as Stuart smiled even wider.

 

“Oh, keep your skunk hair on, KP. Check the match report if you don't believe me.” Stuart chucked a rolled up newspaper at KP who caught it, unrolled it and became engrossed in it immediately.

  
“Hey.” Stuart turned to Steven. “Scoot over.”

 

Steven obliged, moving over and Stuart settled himself on to the seat, placing his bag on the ground next to his feet. Steven stared straight ahead as Stuart sat down because he knew very well that if he looked at Stuart right now then all he would see in his head would be Stuart, dripping wet and practically half naked and that it would be really, really bad and really, really embarrassing if he let himself see that image again because it would only result in an extremely embarrassing situation involving Steven and his pants and the urgent need to go someplace private as soon as possible.

 

They sat in semi-uncomfortable silence for a few minutes until Stuart reached down into his bag and got out a sealed box which he offered to Steven.

 

“What’s this?” Steven asked, taking the box and lifting the lid to peer into it. He found a sweet-smelling, thick white pudding with chopped dry fruits inside.

 

“It’s _kheer._ One of the cooks gave it to me as a parting gift. She even packed me,” he wrestled another box out of his bag to show Steven, “some mutton curry and _rotis_ for the ride.”

 

Steven nodded slowly but didn’t say anything, wondering why Stuart was randomly handing him all this food.

 

“I realized you probably hadn’t eaten breakfast so I thought you might like to eat with me,” Stuart added, as if reading his mind. He bit his lip, looking absolutely adorable as he did so.

 

Steven nodded again, a small smile on his face at the kind gesture.

 

“Yeah, that would be great,” he said; his smile was wider now and Stuart grinned back. Steven’s tattoo tingled suddenly, pulling him back to Earth and he felt guilty at the reminder of his soulmate. Here he was swooning over another man when his own soulmate was somewhere out there, waiting for him.

 

His smile faded but Stuart didn’t notice as he attempted to wrench open the mutton curry. He finally succeeded and placed in on his lap. He pulled out paper plates as well and Steven just looked down at the _kheer_ still in his hands as Stuart set out their food.

 

“She’s given us this _achar_ as well. It’s like a spicy mango pickle. You eat it with the curry, it’s really good.” Steven just nodded, willing his tattoo to stop tingling so he could focus on what Stuart was saying.

 

Stuart finally had everything laid out in front of them and they began to eat as the rest of the team began to file into the bus.

 

Jonathan Trott gave them both a nod as he passed, still half asleep and Matt Prior tried to swipe some curry as he followed Jonathan to the back, only stopped by Stuart’s sharp reflexes than nearly lead to Matt falling on to KP, who half-screamed and shoved him right back. Matt just went to the back after that, glaring at KP and rubbing his arm where KP had pushed him.

 

Paul Collingwood was one of the last onto the bus followed by Swanny and Alastair. The three strode in just as the bus was starting to move with Ali and Swanny laughing and peering into Swanny’s phone, talking to someone on it. Colly gave Stuart and Steven a winning smile, ruffling Stuart’s hair as he walked past and Steven’s cheeks coloured slightly as he remembered the embarrassing encounter from yesterday where he assumed him and Stuart were a thing. Stuart had laughed it off but Steven had wanted the ground to swallow him up whole at that moment.

 

Swanny pointed the phone in Steven and Stuart’s direction as he made his way to his seat with Ali with loud, “Look who it is!” to reveal a very sleepy and suspiciously smiley Jimmy on skype. Steven waved hesitantly at the camera, unsure of how to respond while Stuart just shoved the phone away, glaring at Swanny who only cackled in response.

 

Ali grinned sheepishly at Steven as he passed, as if apologizing for something but, if Steven was honest, he wasn’t quite sure what had just happened in front of him.

 

Stuart had his head turned still and was mouthing something furiously at Swanny at the back, as far as Steven could tell.

 

“Sorry about that. He’s a bit weird sometimes,” he said when he turned back around. He shook his head but he still looked fond.

 

“No, no, it’s fine.”

 

Stuart gave him another one of his smiles in reply; one of those that made Steven’s heart race and his knees weak. He took a helping of mutton curry instead of saying of doing something stupid like he usually did when Stuart smiled like that and continued to eat the food Stuart had gotten for them.

 

They ate in silence and while the curry made Steven’s mouth burn and forced him to drink a whole bottle of water after the second bite only, causing Stuart to laugh, it was an enjoyable meal. Strange, yes, but enjoyable all the same.

 

“I didn’t know that your diet plan allowed you to eat that oily, greasy stuff.” A voice with a familiar South African accent came from next to Stuart.

 

Stuart rolled his eyes in response.

 

“Mind your own business KP,” he said.

 

“It is my business, though. I’m just looking out for my team mates! Jeez, I’m sorry that I care, Stuart.” KP huffed, turning away to look outside the window again.

 

Steven gave KP an incredulous look and Stuart rolled his eyes again. He then turned to Steven, a scheming look on his face.

 

“More oily, greasy mutton curry for you Finny?”

 

Steven grinned. “Don’t mind if I do, Broady,” he said as he added a generous helping to his plate, barely able to stop himself from laughing at KP’s scandalized expression.

 

The rest of their meal continued without much fanfare. Stuart fell asleep soon after they ate, pushing his seat back slightly. Steven dozed off for a while as well and woke up to a bright camera flash right in front of him, Stuart’s head on his shoulder and his tattoo burning on the same shoulder. He blinked rapidly a few times but didn’t catch sight of who it was as his eyes adjusted to the light and by the time the black spots faded, the figure had darted away, giggling loudly. The laughter sounded suspiciously like Alastair but he very much doubted his captain would do something like that.

 

His tattoo stung constantly now, more so than it had last night and it prevented him from going back to sleep as much as he wanted to. Steven was sure this was because his tattoo knew how close he was getting to  another man, emotionally and physically and his heart felt heavy at the thought that he might be betraying his soulmate. Stuart jerked away suddenly, waking up and grabbing his left leg as he did so. Steven’s tattoo subsided then but only slightly as he looked at Stuart questioningly.

 

Stuart took a deep breath, scratching at his leg with one hand and rubbing his eyes with the other.

 

“Are you okay?” Steven asked worriedly.

 

Stuart just nodded and smiled slightly when he turned to look at him.

 

“Yeah, perfect.”

 

Steven nodded, his head hurting from the constant interruption of his sleep.

 

His tattoo picked up again and he huffed, annoyed, rubbing at it and willing it to shut up.

 

“Are _you_ okay?” Stuart asked this time.

 

“Uh, yeah, yeah.” Steven’s cheeks coloured as he tried to think of a quick excuse.

 

He settled for a watered down version of the truth when he couldn’t think of a good one.

 

“My arm’s just been bothering me since last night. Could hardly sleep because of it.”

 

“Oh.” Stuart looked genuinely worried. “I probably didn’t help if I was sleeping on it.” He looked apologetic and Steven felt bad immediately.

 

“No, no, it wasn’t you at all,” Steven assured him immediately.

 

Stuart nodded, even though he didn’t look convinced.

 

Steven swiftly changed the topic away from his stinging tattoo and the conversation was light after that, mostly about the previous match and the upcoming one as well. Stuart complimented his performance constantly and reduced Steven to a blushing, stuttering mess more than once but other than that, it went smoothly.

 

There was a bit of commotion at the back at one point as Swanny hid Paul Collingwood’s shirt under KP’s seat as they both slept which lead to Colly walking up and down the bus shirtless for a good 15 minutes as he looked around for it. He finally found it, peeking from under KP’s seat and he retrieved it, winking at KP as he got it out, who looked scandalized.

 

“If you wanted me to stay shirtless you could’ve just asked, KP.” Colly winked at him again as Stuart stifled a laugh. KP sputtered, mouth opening and closing like a fish as he tried to reply and failed.

 

Steven turned to Stuart, amused. “Why was Colly sleeping without a shirt anyway?”

 

Stuart shrugged and said fondly, “It’s Colly.”

 

It wasn’t much of an answer but Steven was starting to understand what the phrase meant.

 

-

 

Steven took a long, much needed nap in his hotel room as soon as they reached Dhaka in the late afternoon. His tingling tattoo prevented him from getting proper shut-eye on the bus but he was determined to not let it stop him from getting some good sleep in his bed.

 

He emerged hours later for the team dinner scheduled for the night, fresh faced and showered and finally feeling like himself again.

 

He met Stuart standing alone at the entrance of the hotel restaurant, looking fresh and more alive as well. He smiled tentatively at him as he approached.

 

“Hey. Shall we?”

 

“You waited for me?” Steven asked, fighting the fond smile that was threatening to appear on his face.

 

Stuart turned slightly pink and didn't reply and instead opened the restaurant door for him and led him to the team table.

 

-

 

Dinner wasn’t an extravagant affair; they talked, ate, met with some BCB officials and everyone dispersed quickly, a testament to how exhausted they all were after the long bus ride. Steven headed to the elevator to retire to his room as well but not before Stuart jogged after him just as the elevator doors shut.

 

“Hey,” he said, managing to just get inside.

 

“Hey,” Steven said, surprised. “What’s up?”

 

“Nothing. I just uh- I wanted to talk to you about our date, actually.” He said the word date carefully, looking at Steven hesitantly.

 

Steven’s tattoo tingled, as if on cue but he ignored it, nodding and looking at Stuart expectantly, biting his lip to shreds probably. Stuart continued, apparently finding the encouragement he needed on Steven’s face.

 

“How’s tomorrow for you? Maybe around 4 in the evening? It won’t be as hot then but the weather will still be pleasant.”

 

A small voice in Steven’s head had worried that Stuart was backing out when he brought up their plans for the next day but it disappeared completely after hearing this. Steven nodded, not trusting himself to speak right now, not while his heart was racing so fast.

 

“Okay, then.” Stuart gave him one of his most dazzling smiles and Steven’s knees felt weak as he couldn't help but smile back.

 

Stuart walked him to his room door after that, bidding him goodnight as he walked away and Steven was left standing there with his pulse racing and his cheeks pink, very much looking forward to the next day.

  
-

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jimmy and the wooing masters give stuart fashion (and life) advice and stuart goes on a date where many things can (and might) go wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another big, big, BIG thank you to my wonderful beta for sending this back to me so quickly and responding to my late night texts about steven finns opinion on rickshaws, among other very important, life changing questions
> 
> due to popular demand (I think like 2 people asked me to do this) this chapter includes the big first date!!! so I wrote more and now it's long and not just a filler anymore!!
> 
> for anyone who doesnt know, [this](https://goo.gl/images/RFtWEo) is a rickshaw and fruit chaat is a pakistani dish consisting of cut fruit and spices (literally what the name is) 
> 
> happy reading!

Stuart’s POV

 

“How this?”

 

“No.”

 

“What about-”

 

“No.

 

“And thi-”

 

“No.”

 

“But-”

 

“No.”

 

Stuart threw the red polo down onto the overflowing pile of rejected clothes on his bed and stared at the laptop’s webcam, exasperated.

 

“That was my last shirt Jimmy.”

 

Jimmy looked skeptical in the grainy video on the laptop screen.

 

“No, I know you have more clothes than that.”

 

“The only thing left,” Stuart said, as he wrestled his suit out of the hangers it had gotten tangled in in the cupboard and held it up, “is this suit you got me last month. Unless you want me to wear one of my adidas tracksuits?”

 

Jimmy made a face. "I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that. Anyway, the suit is perfect. Wear that.”

 

“Jimmy, I'm going for a casual date to a market to have _chaat._ I can't wear a suit. I'll look ridiculous,” Stuart said incredulously.

 

“Rubbish! You can't look ridiculous in a suit; it’s impossible.”

 

Stuart knelt down in front of the laptop and peered closely at the screen where he could see Jimmy looking scandalized at his suggestion.

 

“Jimmy. I'm going to the _market_ . An actual, honest-to-God _market._ I cannot wear a suit.” Stuart said the last sentence in hard voice. He really wasn’t in the mood for Jimmy’s “a suit looks good wherever you go” speech.

 

“But it's a really nice suit,” Jimmy protested.

 

“Jimmy.”

 

“Okay, fine,” he relented, finally. “Wear that blue t-shirt of yours; the one that I bought you last year for your birthday; it brings out your eyes. And wear those jeans that I got you in South Africa last month.”

 

Stuart began to dig through the pile of clothes to find the ones he'd been instructed to wear. He managed to wrench the t-shirt out eventually and found his jeans on the floor in the corner of his room.

 

“You didn't get me this shirt, though. Ali did. And these jeans are from Swanny as well,” he said, as he changed into them.

 

“I picked it out though,” Jimmy shrugged, lifting his tea mug to his lips.

 

“Oh.”

 

“What? Did you really expect them to buy you such good clothes?” Jimmy scoffed.

 

Stuart just shrugged in response. He peaked a look at his tattoo as he struggled to pull up the skintight jeans Swanny or Jimmy or whoever had bought him.

 

_“they’re so blue”_

 

_“but this must be betrayal”_

 

 _“but they’re so_ _blue_ _”_

 

He frowned as he read the words, unsure of what Steven’s thoughts meant. He was able to yank the jeans up with much difficulty and he made his way to the mirror to now wage war on his hair to make them more presentable. He had to jump over multiple clothes piles on the ground to reach his destination but he made it there eventually.

 

“Stuart, what are you doing to your hair? Let me see,” Jimmy called in a tiny, scratchy voice from the laptop.

 

Stuart ignored him, knowing he'd only be criticised even more from this point forward.

 

“Stuart, I can't see. Turn the laptop to face you.”

 

He could tell by the sound of Jimmy’s voice that he was panicking slightly but Stuart continued to ignore him, pouring liberal amounts of hair gel in his hand and trying to perfect his slicked hair look.

 

“Stuart, you're ruining it. I can tell. That's why you're not showing me. Let me see.”

 

“I've got it, Jimmy. Shush.” He took some more gel and added it to hair, slicking it back or, at least, attempting to.

 

He heard Jimmy huff but continued to ignore him and focused on styling his hair.

 

At the end of 5 minutes he was left staring at the spiky, uneven mess he'd made of his hair.

 

He gave up then, going to where his laptop was perched on the armchair, the only surface in the room that wasn't covered in clothes. He faced the camera, grumpily.

 

“I can't do it, Jimmy. Look at what happened to my hair! I'm going to look disgusting and ugly and he's going to hate me,” he wailed, burying his head in his hands in front of the laptop.

 

He heard Jimmy sigh and looked up to see him shaking his head.

 

“Go get some water,” he said.

 

Stuart straightened his expression out and got up to comply, returning with a glass of tap water immediately.

 

“Okay, now, wet your hair with the water. Dip your fingers in and run them through your hair to get rid of that extra gel.” Stuart followed the instructions carefully, flattening his hair out eventually.

 

“Okay, now get your hair dryer, and dry your hair like this.” He gestured with his hands and Stuart attempted to imitate him.

 

He did it right in front of the camera this time so Jimmy could point out any mistake he was making and Jimmy did so gladly.

 

“No, Stu, don't point it towards the left! Have it point down at your head so it doesn't puff up. Yes, like that. Exactly.”

 

Stuart was nearly done perfecting his hair and had earned an approving nod from Jimmy when a loud bang startled him, making his fingers push his hair in the wrong direction. He stared at the bird’s nest his hair resembled again in the tiny webcam version of himself on the laptop screen, dismayed, as Jimmy stifled a laugh. He glared at him and turned around ready to unleash his worst glare on whoever or whatever had just created the loud bang.

 

At that moment, Swanny strode into the room with Alastair right behind him, obviously unaware of the tragedy he’d just caused in his attempt to have a dramatic entrance.

 

“Jimmy!” he exclaimed as he caught sight of the laptop and Stuart hunched in front of it. Swanny and Ali made their way through the clothes littered around them room immediately.

 

Jimmy gave him and Ali a smile as Ali practically shoved Stuart aside so they could both crowd in front of the laptop. Stuart’s glare was replaced with surprise as he was pushed but it was back in full force and pointed in their direction as he lay on the side of the armchair with a bruised rear and a bruised ego.

 

“Hey Jimmy.” Alastair gave Jimmy one of his blinding smiles as Stuart scoffed, getting to his feet as they ignored him.

 

“It’s like I'm not even here,” he muttered, half to himself as Swanny instantly started narrating a prank they'd played on Bressie that morning with Ali interjecting to correct some facts that Swanny exaggerated and Jimmy trying to not look amused but failing.

 

Stuart sighed, knowing he'd lost Jimmy's attention and resigned to the fact that he was stuck fixing his hair on his own. He grabbed the water and gel and went to the bathroom mirror as Swanny launched in to another story about Colly flirting with Ali and Ali not realizing for a whole half hour until he finally asked Swanny why he was laughing. Ali apparently went “redder than Colly in the sun” after that and Stuart was actually kind of sad he missed that.

 

He began to salvage the mess that was his hair, tuning their voices out. He emerged from the bathroom 10 minutes later to find them exactly as he'd left them, except for the fact that, now, Ali was narrating something funny he’d said last practice, coaxed on by Swanny and Jimmy was smiling wider than Stuart had ever seen him smile.

 

“Okay, I'm done,” he announced, waiting till Alastair had finished his story.

 

Swanny and Ali swivelled around immediately and Jimmy turned his head to him as well. Stuart held his arms out as they inspected his outfit and hair. Swanny came towards him and started rubbing the fabric of the shirt between his fingers, examining it more closely than was necessary and complaining about the texture, of all things. Ali joined him as well, dusting imaginary lint off of Stuart’s shoulders and Swanny did the same but on the front and back of shirt and took this opportunity to thump Stuart's back a few times, causing Stuart to almost double over in pain with a loud “Oof!” He shoved Swanny away after that and was satisfied to see him land in one of the many clothes piles in his room with a thud.

 

“So what do you think then?” He posed the question to Jimmy who had returned to his normal grumpy self by now and was frowning as he scrutinized Stuart’s outfit with narrowed eyes.

 

“It’ll do, I suppose,” he said, giving a noncommittal shrug.

 

Stuart sighed, knowing it wasn’t going to get any better than that.

 

-

 

When Stuart was finally ready to leave, after checking his hair in the mirror for the tenth time and retieing his shoelaces at least four times, Swanny and Ali got up from where they were lying comfortably on the pile of clothes on the bed.

 

“Aww look at you! Our little boy is all grown up!” Swanny grabbed him and hugged him fiercely as Stuart attempted to wrestle of his grasp. Ali joined them as well and then there was no chance of Stuart getting out of the hug. When they let go eventually, Swanny wiped a few (hopefully fake) tears from his eyes and Stuart gave him a weird expression.

 

“Don’t give me that look Stuart Christopher John Broad. I’m allowed to be a little emotional when you’re going on your first date,” Swanny said indignantly.

 

“But it’s not my first date,” he said slowly, raising his eyebrows.

 

Swanny ignored him, choosing now lift Alastair’s shirt and wipe his tears on it as Alastair patted his back soothingly, unperturbed by the bare chest he was exposing thanks to Swanny and which Jimmy was now clearly staring at from the webcam. Stuart rolled his eyes, used to their antics by now.

 

“Okay, I’m going then. Wish me luck.”

 

“Wait!” Swanny unlatched himself from Alastair and stumbled towards him.

 

Stuart sighed. “What is it now?”

 

“I have a speech,” Swanny announced grandly. He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and shoved it towards Ali.

 

“Here, you read it.”

 

Ali examined the paper hesitantly before unfolding it and clearing his throat.

 

“First, congratulations on your date Stu. The wooing masters take full credit for your success. You’re welcome.” Stuart raised his eyebrows as Ali continued.

 

“Anyway, when two boys, like you and young Finny, like each other they _feel_ things and then they want to _act_ on those _feelings_ but it’s important to remember-” Ali stifled a laugh as he read the next bit. “-that you cover your stump before you hump.” Alastair looked up from the paper, struggling to keep a straight expression as Stuart stared at him, scandalized.

 

“Yeah, don’t be silly, protect your willy,” Swanny said, nodding furiously as Jimmy started to laugh.

 

“Oh my god.” Stuart buried his head in his hands.

 

“Wait there’s more,” Ali says, turning the paper over.

 

“Oh no. Please, no,” Stuart protested but Ali ignored him, cleared his throat again and continued.

 

“If you think he’s spunky, cover your monkey. Or if you go into heat, package your meat. Stop the stream before you cream. Cloak the joker before you poke her.” He paused, peering closely at the paper, confused.

 

“Wait, that one’s not right,” he said, showing the paper to Swanny who examined it as well as Stuart just gaped at them.

 

“Yeah, Colly must have not proof-read this one properly,” Swanny said, shaking his head. “But go ahead, there are more.” Stuart grimaced but his reactions and protests went unheard.

 

“Bag the mole then do his hole. Cover your stone before you bone. Do you get this one? Because you get rock hard and stones are like rocks?” Ali laughed at his own joke and the apparent genius of the pun.

 

“Yeah, that one’s funny,” Jimmy called from the laptop screen. Ali gave him a wide smile and Stuart was ready to give up on his friends now.

 

“I need new friends,” he said, mostly to himself as Alastair continued his long list of condom slogans once more, egged on by Swanny and Jimmy.

 

-

 

They’d agreed to meet in the lobby at 4 so it shouldn’t have worried Stuart to find that Steven wasn’t there when he reached the lobby at 3:40 but it did and so, he sat at one of the little seats at the entrance, tapping his foot on the floor and sending frantic texts to Jimmy and Swanny and Ali in turn about he was getting stood up and how his life was over now.

 

He was a few seconds away from calling Jimmy and crying about how his own soulmate didn’t want to go out with him when he felt a familiar tingle on his thigh and he stood up immediately, spotting Steven approaching, looking as tall and adorable as ever, especially as he nearly tripped over a small ledge.

 

“Hey,” Stuart said, smiling widely and helplessly endeared by this tall, clumsy, giraffe of a man.

 

“Hi.” Steven’s cheeks were slightly pink and it may have been a reaction to the hot, humid air of Dhaka but Stuart thought it was a good look on him all the same.

 

“Shall we?”

 

Steven nodded, looking a bit nervous.

 

“I got us a rickshaw to travel in but if you prefer a car that’d be fine with me, I’ve booked that as well.” Stuart was nervous too now; he’d prepared for every possible preference Steven might have had but it still worried him that Steven might not like any of the choices he’d prepared.

 

“A rickshaw?”

 

“It’s a subcontinental vehicle; it’s like a two seater usually with one other space for the driver in front.” Steven still looked confused and his eyebrows furrowed, making him look even more adorable but he nodded.

 

“Okay, yeah.”

 

“Okay, then.” Stuart smiled and Steven smiled back hesitantly.

 

-

 

In hindsight, Stuart probably should've scouted the location of their date before taking Steven there. When Straussy had said “market”, Stuart expected a small concrete building housing some shops or at least a building that had actual brick walls and a roof. He hadn't expected a huge, unmade plot with just a tent over it and hundreds of little tables set, packed with fruit stalls and clothes stalls and toy stalls and stalls selling everything you could possibly buy. The market was noisy, overflowing with shoppers and vendors, bargaining and buying.

 

Stuart stepped out of the rickshaw in a bit of a daze, staring at the sight in front of him. He heard Steven get out of the rickshaw behind him and he hurriedly turned out around, handing a 1000 taka note to the rickshaw driver.

 

He turned to Steven, his brain in overdrive wondering how he's going to salvage this date after bringing Steven to a market like this. This wasn't a proper dating spot at all. Jimmy was right; he should've just stuck with a nice, fancy restaurant. It was a classic date location and you could never go wrong with it. Instead he's here; in one of Bangladesh’s busiest and most underdeveloped markets it seemed. Where was he even going to find a fruit _chaat_ stall here?

 

But, like a lot of what he'd experienced today so far, Steven's reaction was the exact opposite of what he'd expected.

 

Steven was smiling. No, he was _grinning_ , looking at the market with proper, genuine happiness and Stuart was confused. Very confused.

 

“I love it!” Steven exclaimed, walking into the market past Stuart and immediately heading for the nearest stall.

 

It took Stuart a second to react and he stared at Steven’s back till he realized what he'd said.

 

“You do?” he asked, his voice laced with disbelief as he jogged after him, nearly tripping over a few rocks before he caught up to Steven. He was stood in front of a stall examining what appeared to be a ceramic pottery piece which the hawker was very enthusiastically advertising to him.

 

“It is a very nice ceramic bowl, sir. Inspired from 14th century Islamic art, sir, from Persia. Very genuine. I offer only for 2000 taka. It is a good deal, sir.”

 

Steven was apparently convinced by the salesman's description of the bowl, unlike Stuart who was very skeptical about his pitch that the bowl was inspired by 14th century Persian and Islamic art.

 

“I'll take it,” he said, still smiling widely as he handed over 2 crisp 1000 taka notes to the satisfied salesman.

 

“You will?” Stuart asked, shocked.

 

“Yeah, of course I will,” Steven said, accepting the boxed bowl in a bag and thanking the salesman as he did so. “2000 taka is a bargain for this stuff. The bowl’s beautiful; don't you think?”

 

“Yeah, it's beautiful, but that's not it. It's just- you genuinely like this market?”

 

Steven halted at another stall, this one displaying shawls which, really, if you asked Stuart, it was much too hot to be wearing a shawl right now.

 

“Of course, I like this market. Why? Don't you?”

 

“No, I do. I just didn't expect this?”

 

Steven smiled at him, looking up from where he was examining a rich, black Kashmiri shawl.

 

“If I'm honest, neither did I. But I really, really like it.”

 

Stuart smiled back, relieved for what felt like the first time in ages.

 

“Really?” he asked.

 

“Yeah.” Steven nodded, biting his lip and Stuart’s thigh tingled one cue.

 

“Sir, you like this shawl?” The shawl-seller’s voice shook Stuart out of his reverie and they both turned to look at him.

 

“Yeah, I do,” Steven said, smiling warmly at the eager salesman. “How much for it?”

 

“Sir, for you, only 12,000 takas. This is genuine Kashmiri shawl, sir. Imported straight from Muzaffarabad in Pakistan, sir. Very nice, genuine shawl, sir.”

 

Steven nodded, examining the shawl thoughtfully.

 

“What do you think?” he asked Stuart unexpectedly, handing a bit of the shawl to him to hold. Stuart took it hesitantly, imitating the way Steven rubbed the cloth between his fingers and feeling very much out of his depth here.

 

“Um, I like it?” he said. “I'm sorry. I just- I don't know much about shawls so I couldn't say?”

 

“Yeah, neither do I,” Steven shrugged. “It feels warm though and it's soft so it'll do the job, I think.”

 

“Yeah, it is soft,” Stuart agreed, feeling the cloth between his fingers.

 

“Okay. Then it's settled. I'll take it,” he told the salesman, who smiled so widely at them that Stuart couldn't help but smile back at him as he packed up the shawl for Steven.

 

“D’you want one?” Steven asked him, examining the rest of the shawls displayed around the table.

 

“Oh, uh- I don't know,” Stuart said, caught of guard.

 

“You should get one. How often do you get the opportunity to buy genuine Kashmiri shawls? This is really rare to find, you know.” Steven looked at him with such earnest, hopeful eyes that Stuart didn't really have a choice.

 

“Yeah, okay.” He shrugged, trying to act as nonchalant as he could. “You pick it for me.”

 

“Really?” Steven asked, taken aback but looking pleased all the same.

 

“Yeah.” Stuart smiled at him and Steven smiled back hesitantly before turning back to the shawl-seller and engaging him in a very intense conversation about what shawl would suit Stuart perfectly.

 

Stuart continued smiling at Steven, probably looking like a proper fool at this point, as he examined each shawl the salesman pulled out with extreme concentration and held them up against Stuart to see how they looked on him.

 

After 10 minutes of intense debating and the salesman and Steven looking like they were enjoying every second of it, they finally decided on a shawl. Even Stuart, who admittedly wasn't the best judge of how good a shawl was, thought the shawl was absolutely beautiful. It was dark, like Steven's, but it was a deep, navy blue instead of black and it was ever so soft to touch.

 

Stuart was speechless at first, when Steven handed the shawl over to him, and just stared at it while running his hands over it. He could feel Steven's eyes on him and he looked up to meet his gaze with a smile.

 

“It's blue so it'll make your eyes look very blue sir,” the salesman said, before Stuart could say anything. “Very blue.”

 

“Yes, very blue,” Steven echoed, a small smile on his face.

 

Stuart nodded, still smiling. “I love it. Thank you.”

 

“I'll take it,” he said, turning to the salesman.

 

“Both, sir?” the salesman asked. Stuart smiled at him.

 

“Yes, both,” he said, pulling his wallet out and taking a few 5000 notes out to cover the cost of the shawls.

 

“Wait, what are you doing?” Steven said, grabbing his hand as he went to hand over the money. Stuart's leg burned red hot again and he frowned, at both his burning tattoo and Steven stopping him from paying.

 

“What?” Stuart asked, confused.

 

“You can't pay for me.”

 

“But I want to,” Stuart said simply, handing over the cash and grabbing the bags from the salesman.

 

“Yes, but _I_ don't want you to,” Steven said as they walked away from the stall and headed to the next one.

 

“You can pay at the next one,” Stuart said, stopping at a fruit stall.

 

He heard Steven's huff of protest as he examined a very high stack of apples at the stall. He looked up, questioningly.

 

Steven was pouting at him and Stuart, caught of guard, had the sudden urge to kiss him. Unfortunately, they were still in the middle of a very busy market where they might be recognized instantly, especially if they were making out.

 

“Apple?” he said, instead, cringing at the squeakiness of his voice.

 

Steven rolled his eyes at him, fighting a smile as he grabbed it out of hands and took a bite.

 

-

 

Stuart's worst fears were confirmed when, 2 hours later, they still hadn't found the fruit _chaat_ , stall. They'd explored a major part of the market, it seemed, and had gone to so many different stalls that he'd lost count after the first 11. Steven was thoroughly enjoying himself, buying things at almost every stall like that big box Jasmine tea that the salesman promised was straight from Bangalore or the “I  <3 Bangladesh” t-shirts he got for them both but, despite all of this, Stuart was still stressed. He'd brought Steven here under the pretense of buying him the best fruit _chaat_ in the world and he was very close to not being able to come through with his promise. Steven would probably hate Stuart now. What kind of person brought their soulmate out for their first date and then completely blew it by not keeping their promise? A terrible one, and that's the kind of soulmate Stuart was, clearly.

 

He was just about ready to apologize to Steven for failing him and then call Straussy and tell him how he'd just ruined Stuart's one chance at true happiness when he caught sight of a man leaving a smaller, slightly hidden stall behind the one they were stood at, with a plastic bowl filled with fruit chunks. Stuart froze, his face lighting up and Steven, who was examining a tiny, plastic model of rickshaw, was oblivious to his reaction. By the time he looked up, Stuart had schooled his expression back to it's normal, calm appearance.

 

“Isn't this rickshaw cute?” Steven asked, holding it up for Stuart to see.

 

Stuart nodded, a vision of utter calmness and serenity as he inspected the tiny rickshaw carefully; you wouldn't have ever guessed he'd just felt a flurry of different emotions, all within 10 seconds, with how composed his demeanor was.

 

“Yeah,” he said, clearing his throat. “It’s really cute.” And it was cute. It had similar patterns to rickshaws found on the road painted it on it and it was very detailed as well, with a proper steering wheel that turned and movable wheels as well.

 

Steven smiled, satisfied with the tiny thing and with Stuart's response. Stuart sneaked the payment to the salesman before Steven could react and then he placed a hand on Steven's back and led him to the fruit _chaat_ stall while Steven protested. His tattoo stung again when they touched but he hardly noticed. It had been going haywire ever since their date began and he was finally getting used to the tingle on his thigh and was able to ignore it.

 

“You paid at the last one,” Stuart reminded him.

 

“Yes, but only I bought something at this stall so   _I_ should've paid,” Steven said grumpily.

 

Stuart grinned at him. Steven pouted again and Stuart's heart skipped a beat.

 

“Anyway, um, let's have the fruit _chaat_ I promised you,” he said, swallowing hard and hastily changing the subject.

 

They ordered 2 and waited as the hawker prepared it for them.

 

Steven tried to pay and Stuart found him sneaking the hawker a 500 taka note and stopped him immediately.

 

“I brought you here for this so I'm paying,” he said firmly, handing over his money to the hawker, who stared at them both wrestling to pay, with raised eyebrows.

 

Steven huffed again and took his fruit _chaat_ bowl without complaint. Stuart took his as well and led them to a small, empty bench nearby so they could eat there.

 

Steven seemed to forget all about being upset with Stuart about paying once he took the first bite and Stuart couldn't blame him. The fruit _chaat_ was incredible, a perfect blend of sweet and spicy and tangy and Stuart was in heaven. Steven also seemed to enjoy his fruit _chaat_ as well, even though the first bite left him a bit shocked at how spicy it was and he had to order a bottle of water from a nearby vendor immediately. Stuart stifled a laugh as Steven glared at him, downing most of the bottle in one go.

 

The rode back to the hotel in another rickshaw, at Steven’s request. He very enthusiastically picked one that resembled the miniature rickshaw he had bought and then proceeded to show the driver his tiny version. Both the driver and Steven had a very animated conversation about their respective rickshaws for most of the ride and Steven even showed how his rickshaw could move on it's own like a toy car. Stuart tried to not feel so endeared as Steven demonstrated the miniature rickshaw's ability to the driver on the seat but he failed at hiding the fond smile that spread across his face. Steven caught him smiling at him at one point and his cheeks reddened which made Stuart smile even wider. Stuart's tattoo began tingling even more as Steven looked away, blushing even harder. Stuart itched to read his tattoo then, to know what Steven was thinking.

 

They reached their hotel just as the sun was setting over Dhaka. Stuart paid their driver, slipping him a hefty tip as they disembarked. He followed Steven to the elevator, balancing their many bags in his hands and refusing to let Steven take any.

 

Stuart dropped Steven to his hotel room door with a smile and a kiss on his cheek. His tattoo burned when he did but he kept his expression neutral, still smiling while noting how Steven jumped slightly after he kissed him, a sure sign that his tattoo had stung as well. He bade him goodnight and walked away without another word.

 

As he neared his room, he tried to school his expression in to something more composed rather than the love-sick smile he knew was on his face. He wouldn't put it past Swanny and Ali to be camped out in his room, probably still Skyping with Jimmy and if they saw him like this, with the cheesiest grin on his face, they'd never let him live it down.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a night at the pub

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a very short, filler chapter before the last one goes up. i wasn't going to post anything but there's been some really lovely anon and other messages about the next chapter so i thought i'd post something at least. this isn't much though because i've barely had time :( next and most probably the final chapter will be up within the next month? i really hope so 
> 
> IMPORTANT: some random notts players from the 2010 season are included in this which are Hashim Amla (who goes by Hashim or Hash in this chapter), a very young alex hales, david hussey and of course swanny. 
> 
> ALSO: hasn't been beta'd, my beta is busy as well so i dont want to trouble her and, really, how many mistakes can i make in 1k or so words? (alot)
> 
> ALSO, last one, sorry: the time stamps and location are important for this chapter and the next so just read those for a bit of context.

Stuart's POV

 

_ 4 weeks after their date, 3 weeks after the end of tour _

 

_ Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England _

 

Once the tour had been wrapped up and they had only the county club matches to look forward to for the next few months, there hadn't been much to say but goodbye. They parted at Heathrow and Stuart and Steven had headed their own separate ways; Steven to Watford and Stuart up north to Nottingham. 

 

One late night on yet another weekend that he planned on spending at home alone, a group of four very insistent men showed up to Stuart’s house and after some incessant bell-ringing and an almost fatal struggle to get free, (it was 3 against 1 and while Stuart beat them all in terms of height, Swanny, David Hashim and even Alex, were all easily stronger than him) they dragged him out of his house from where he’d been holed up for weeks since his return, only leaving for practice or training or the odd milk and bread run. They drove to a pub, much to Stuart’s dismay and sat him down, 2 pints in front of him, demanded he both drink and talk about why he’d been so aloof and distant since the end of the tour.

 

Stuart didn’t reply, opting to stare at the beers in front of him, eyes focused on a drop of condensation making it’s way to the bottom of the glass ever so slowly. When it finally reached the end of it’s path, Stuart picked up the glass and drank deeply, nearly downing the glass in one go. 

 

“It’s Steven isn’t it?” Swanny asked abruptly before Stuart had a chance to say anything.

 

“Who?” Alex asked immediately and Hashim shushed him, peering through his glasses at Stuart. 

 

“Stu, just text the guy. Stop moping around, waiting for something to happen.”

 

“I have texted him,” Stuart said defensively, more animation in his voice than their had been for weeks.

 

“Oh. Then what’s wrong?”

 

Stuart huffed. “Nothing.” He ran a hand through his hair impatiently. “It’s just- It’s been so weird ever since tour ended. We still text and talk and everything but it’s just not the same obviously.” 

 

He paused, as if considering his next words carefully. “How are you even supposed to date someone when you’re not in the same town or city as them? Long distance relationships work if you’re already together but Steven and I, we were just starting out. We didn’t even have time to properly get to know each other before boom, tours over, pack your bags, go home and no seeing each other for the next few months.”

 

He threw his hands in the air as he finished slightly out of breath. His audience now stared at him with a range of emotions on their faces: shocked (Hashim; he hadn’t seen Stuart’s tirades before), uncomfortable (Alex; he usually looked uncomfortable when the talk of relationships and or anything remotely about feelings or emotions came up in conversation) and thoughtful (Swanny; this was strange because Stuart didn’t normally associate that emotion with Swanny).

 

They didn’t speak for a minute or so until Swanny broke the silence.

 

“Why don’t you go meet him?”

 

Stuart made a face but was beaten to a reply.

 

“Yeah,” Hashim agreed, nodding. “Or why don’t you call him up to see you?”

 

Stuart gave him the same look.

 

“I can’t do that.” He crossed his arms, leaning back in his seat.

 

“Why not?” Hashim asked, frowning slightly. 

 

“Because.” 

 

“That’s not an excuse Stu,” Swanny said.

 

“It’d be so  _ weird _ . I can’t just show up to his house or call him over for the weekend.”

 

“Why not?” Hashim asked this time, looking genuinely confused.

 

Stuart huffed again.

 

“Because we barely know each other.”

 

“But you want to change that, right? This is the only way.”

 

Alex interjected then. “Actually, this can’t be the only-” 

 

“Not now Alex,” Swanny cut him off before he could finish.

 

Stuart frowned, considering this suggestion.

 

“Fine, let’s say I did agree to this; how am I even supposed to broach this? I can’t just be like “hey Finny, can I come over this weekend?””

 

Swanny waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about that right now. We’ll get to that in a bit.”

 

Stuart looked skeptical but he didn’t get a chance to argue as Alex and Swanny downed their beers and David returned from the counter with their refills promptly. 

 

-

 

His dilemma was solved a few hours later when Stuart had had too much to drink and he stepped outside for some fresh air and a breather. The cold, misty air of late April greeted him and he shivered slightly at the change from the heat in the pub. Pulling out his phone he scrolled through the texts he’d gotten (Colly had been spamming the group with pictures of his new born daughter) until he  reached the chat he was looking for. He typed out a text to Steven; a simple one consisting of only 3 words; but as he read it over and realized what he'd said, he suddenly felt more sober then than he had all night. He felt his palms begin to sweat and his heart raced as he held onto the ice cold pole outside the pub for support, shoving his phone in his pocket and waiting with bated breath for his phone to vibrate with Steven's reply.

 

_ I miss you too. _

 

The text lit up the screen as he yanked his phone out and Stuart felt drunk again, but not like before; this wasn't slurring, spinning, messy drunk that he had been; this was a clear, elated feeling that started from his chest and spread through his body, making him feel warm all over. 

 

Stuart typed out a reply with shaky fingers.

 

_ Come see me next weekend? _

 

He shut his phone again, willing his heart rate to slow down and leaned against the pole, waiting for Steven’s reply. And after 5 tense minutes, it came.

 

_ I'll be there. _


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> steven takes a trip and some advice as well (finally)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello it's me. again. this is NOT the last chapter because i realized that i'd given very little thought to finny and his feelings in this fic so think of this as the second half of the fic from now on, with more finny-centered chapters. hopefully. that is the plan.  
> also i told my beta(s) that i wouldn't update my fic until i had all of it written. i lied. i can't not post this because i wont be able to rest until i do.  
> also considering that ive been practically awol for 1-2 months (i had exams pls) this is a relatively short chapter :( but more to come soon!  
> happy reading!  
> oooh also, Tim Murtagh makes a guest appearance in this and i know absolutely nothing about him but i've given him the character of steven's love guru. because everyone needs one.

_5 weeks after their date, 4 weeks after the end of tour_

_Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England_

 

In the days leading up to Steven’s arrival, Stuart was, as expected, an absolute nervous wreck. He’d insisted that Steven stay with him at his house and not at some random hotel and had even done up the guest bedroom; going as far as calling in a cleaner after his failed attempts to scrub the questionable stains on the carpet, left behind after one of Jimmy and Alastair’s visits. He’d even changed the sheets of the guest bed 4 times as well and finally ended up buying a new set after a subtle hint from a very flustered Alastair on the phone.

 

( _“I’d, you know, change the sheets if I were you- just, um, just in case.” “Oh, I did. I put my other guest sheets; the nice silk ones Mum bought me when I moved in.” “No, I mean, um, I’d just go all out and buy new sheets if I were you.” “Wait, why? You guys are the only ones that have ever used- Oh my god. You didn’t.” “I, uh, I have to go.” “No, Ali, don’t you dare hang u-”_ )

 

Other than Stuart’s frantic run to the furniture store to buy new sheets and, possibly, a new bed, his preparation for Steven’s arrival went smoothly: he restocked his kitchen with groceries and even tested his hand at cooking again - something he hadn’t found the motivation to do since coming back home - and his whole apartment was cleaner than it was the day he’d had moved in. It was going perfectly, really, but it wasn’t without a few panicking phone calls to Jimmy until he started cutting his calls on the first ring and then a moment of desperation where he couldn’t figure out if the new collection of vases at that furniture store down the block would suit his hallway better than the pottery he’d got from India last year so he ended up calling his sister up but then was subjected to listening to her laughing uncontrollably for 15 minutes until he hung up on her. (He stuck with the pottery in the end, adding a few more to them from the collection he’d bought with Steven on one of their trips exploring Dhaka’s many bazaars.)

 

But Steven’s train arrived early at the station and so, despite all of Stuart’s preparations and plans to go pick him up from the station in the evening and welcome him to his apartment with a home-cooked meal, Stuart instead received a call from Steven just as he was lighting up the grill.

 

“Hi,” he said, picking up immediately and placing the phone under his ear while precariously balancing the steaks in his hands and placed them on the grill. “How far have you reached then? Passed Grantham yet?”

 

“Hey,” came Finny’s scratchy voice through the phone. “Actually, uh, I’m in Nottingham station right now. We just reached.”

 

And with that announcement, Stuart nearly dropped the bowl of carefully grated blue cheese that he’d just picked up. Grabbing onto it just as it almost slipped from his hands, he placed it back on the counter and turned the grill off. He straightened back up then, putting the phone back on his ear, his eyes wide.

 

“What? How? You’re not supposed to reach for another hour,” he said frantically, wiping his hands on a towel and throwing it down quickly as he made his way to his room.

 

“Yeah, I know. I’m so sorry,” Finny said apologetically. “It’s fine though; you don’t have to pick me up. I can take a cab to your place. Just text me your address.”

 

“Don’t be daft,” Stuart said, already pulling his shoes on and grabbing his wallet and keys. “I’ll be there in 5.”

 

“Stu, you don’t have to-”

 

“I’ll see you in 5 minutes Finny,” Stuart interrupted him and shut the door behind him, jogging down the fire escape instead of waiting for the elevator to show up. “Where are you standing?”

 

“Uh, next to the Starbucks on the platform.”

 

“Got it. Give me 2 minutes,” Stuart said, stepping on the accelerator as he sped out of the parking.

-

Steven’s POV

 

To say that Steven was nervous would be an understatement- especially since he passed being just nervous over two days ago. His current state was actually at the point where it was rare for his heart rate to be steady, and those fleeting moments where his heart didn’t feel like it would explode only occurred when he was so busy watching the passing landscape out of the train window that he forgot where he was headed or who he was going to meet soon. When he did realize though, his heart would start racing again and his hands would start to shake and he would tell himself it was all because of the chilly air in the train cabin and the lowering of the temperature as they travelled further up north but it didn’t sound believable, even to himself.

 

Collectively, this was the reason that he was now sat, practically shaking in his seat, on a wooden, rough (read: very cold) bench outside of a small Starbucks that seemed to radiate heat from the inside, beckoning everyone passing by or exiting from the airport terminal towards it’s warmth. Steven was tempted to follow the crowd in, but if he was being honest with himself, the icy wind had probably frozen his legs in place and any attempt to move them would be painful and not a road he was willing to travel right now.

 

But despite the distraction that the cold, Nottingham winds offered, Steven hadn’t completely forgotten why his hands had been shaking even before they’d approached this subzero area. Steven wasn’t good at handling situations like these; avoidance was key for him and it would’ve been instrumental in his situation with Stuart as well if Murts hadn’t spotted him staring intently at the three little words he’d received two days ago.

 

-

_4 weeks after their date, 3 weeks after the end of tour_

_Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, England._

 

_“I miss you,” Tim read out loud over Steven’s shoulder, making Steven jump slightly, nearly bumping his head against the top of the doorway he was leaning against._

 

_“Who misses you?” he asked. “I thought I was your only friend.”_

 

_Tim looked at him with genuine surprise, beer bottle halfway to his lips as he stared inquisitively at him. Steven made a face, shoving his phone back in his pocket and downing half of the beer he’d forgotten he was holding._

 

_“Nobody.” Steven said quickly, walking back to the couch and their abandoned FIFA game._

 

_Tim didn’t seem to buy his convincing lie though and followed him, ignoring the sounds of the FIFA home screen starting up again as Steven picked the remote back up._

 

_“You’re blushing,” Tim pointed out, grinning at Steven’s flushed face. “It’s clearly not just a nobody.”_

 

_Steven glared at him, or attempted to as Tim laughed._

 

_“It’s Stuart Broad isn’t it?” Tim laughed again at the expression on Steven’s face as he heard his name._

 

_Steven ignored him, hoping that his silence would stop Tim from badgering him. It didn’t._

 

_“Well, what are you waiting for then? Reply to him! Tell your boy you miss him too.”_

 

_Steven sighed, running a hand through his hair. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and twisted it around in his hand as Murts stared_ _at him expectantly._

 

_“It’s not that easy,” Steven said finally and Tim exclaimed, exasperated._

 

_“Finny, there’s nothing difficult about this.”_

 

_“Yes, there is,” Steven said animatedly. “How do we even know this text is from him? Maybe his friends have stolen his phone and decided to text every guy on his contact list and I’m just the one who receives this specific text? Someone else probably got an ‘I love you’ or a ‘marry me’. I’d be an idiot to reply to it then.”_

 

_He paused as Tim looked incredulous. “What kind of absurd scenario is that? Who even does that?”_

 

_“Some people do,” Finny said darkly, remembering clearly how Wahab Riaz stole Asad Shafiq’s phone and texted every person in his contact list with a declaration of love and a marriage proposal during the England Lions tour of the UAE the year before. Finny had received one as well and was prepared to have a very uncomfortable conversation to turn Asad down before Kiesy thankfully informed him that it was a prank just in time._

_“But forget that. How about this? How do we know that he even means it? I mean, he could be drunk right now and not know a word of what he’s said, or- or he could be pranking me and I’ll look stupid if I reply or he could have texted the wrong person or-”_

 

_“Steven.” Tim raised a hand up to silence him before Steven could finish his list of reasons._

 

_“What?”_

 

_“You’re being ridiculous.”_

 

_“I am not,” Steven said affronted. “These are all very valid reasons and-”_

 

_“Finny, those aren’t valid reasons at all,” Tim said exasperatedly. He raised a hand again as Steven opened his mouth to interrupt. “No,_ _listen to me. Stuart likes you. He took you out in Bangladesh on dates and you two had a great time each time. Stop over-thinking this and just text him back.”_

 

_Steven was unconvinced. “We had a great time then, yes. But this is now, not then. This is England, not Bangladesh.”_

 

_“Have your feelings changed since Bangladesh?”_

 

_“That’s not what I-”_

 

_“Answer the question Steven.”_

 

_Steven looked exasperated. “No, of course not,” he said finally._

 

_“Good because clearly, his haven’t either.”_

 

_“Yeah, but-” Steven stopped, running a hand through his hair again. He paused, deep in thought again and then lit up as something occurred to him._

 

_“What about my soulmate tattoo then? I can’t go out with Stuart- I’d be betraying my soulmate.”_

 

_And then, for the millionth time that night, Tim looked like he really wanted to throw a cushion at Steven rather than gracing his excuse with a reply and he did so, getting rewarded with a very satisfying “hey!” as the cushion met it’s mark._

 

_“Having a soulmate tattoo doesn’t mean you just sit and wait for your soulmate to appear again in front of you. You still have to go and put yourself out there. You have to at least try to find love on your own instead of just sitting in your living room and ignoring texts from guys you like just because you feel guilty or like you’re cheating. This isn’t cheating Finny. You haven’t made a commitment to anyone yet. The tattoo on your hand is a sign, not a promise.”_

 

_Tim finished his rant with a deep breath and, thankfully, Steven looked a little convinced._

 

_“Plus, you don’t know who your soulmate is yet so he could be anyone right now,” he continued. “He could even be Stuart for all you know!”_

 

_Steven snorted then: “Ha! Yeah, right!”_

 

_Tim just shrugged, picking his now-warm beer back up and taking a sip. “You never know,” he said simply as Steven shook his head disbelievingly._

 

_Their night ended with Tim cheering Steven on as he typed out replies to Stuart’s texts with shaky fingers, promising to visit him next week and then promptly burying his head in the couch cushions. Tim pulled him out then, reminding him that this was a good thing he was doing and that it was about time he started to put himself out there and Steven nodded, although he was far from agreeing with Tim just yet._

 

-

_5 weeks after their date, 4 weeks after the end of tour_

_Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England_

 

And here he was now, frozen solid and potentially stuck to this bench for the rest of his life because he hadn’t listen to Murts’ warning about the cold weather in Nottingham. But Steven soon forgot all about the icy wind or the tempting heat from the Starbucks because, in the distance, he saw a tall, blond man half tumbling out of his car, nearly tripping over the pavement and his coat as he tried to navigate his way onto the path. He recognized him immediately and, as expected, he broke out into a smile as he watched Stuart tug his coat out of the car door where it had gotten stuck.  
Steven watched as Stuart finally managed to gather himself and his clothes in one piece and looked around till he found the Starbucks Steven had told him he’d be sitting near. He raised a hand awkwardly as Stuart spotted him and Stuart smiled, speeding up until he reached him.

 

“Hey.” Stuart was still smiling widely and Steven grinned back.

 

“Hi.” He stood up then, all theories of frozen legs and adopting the bench as his forever-home dismissed from his head as he stared at the man in front of him.

 

Stuart leaned forward unexpectedly, pulling Steven in for a hug which Steven returned, albeit a few seconds late.

 

He lingered for a few seconds before letting go and grabbed Steven’s bag off the ground before he had chance to recover.

 

“Shall we?” Stuart asked, face still bright and cheery and Steven nodded quickly.

 

“Yeah, yeah.” Stuart led them towards the car then and Steven followed, his heart rate still not steady, but he was getting used to the fluttering in chest by now.

 

-

 

The ride to Stuart’s house was quiet mostly, punctuated with a few questions from Stuart about how his train ride was, as well as a few comments about how light Steven had dressed considering the cold weather in Nottingham.

 

_(“As good as you look in that t-shirt, it’s a bit too thin for Nottingham weather, isn’t it? Not that I’m complaining but I’d rather you didn’t fall ill this week.”)_

 

Steven gave a non-committal answer to that, cheeks still flushed from the cold or something else and Stuart smiled slightly at his response but said nothing further.

 

-

 

Stuart gave him a short tour of the house when they reached before Steven expressed his desperate need for a shower. By the time Steven emerged from the washroom freshly showered, he walked into a somewhat transformed dining area and his hand, halfway through smoothing his wet hair down froze as he took in the scene in front of him.

 

The previously empty table was now draped in a white cloth, set with steel-covered dishes with glasses for two, complete with candles in the middle, a bottle of wine and swan-shaped napkins. Stuart stood next to the table smiling nervously and dressed more formally under the coat that he’d removed now, than Steven had expected.

 

“I’m not dressed appropriately for this,” he said haltingly, referring to his simple black t-shirt and jeans but Stuart was unperturbed.

 

“That’s okay. Come and sit,” he said quickly, pulling out a chair for Steven.

 

Stuart took the seat across from him, chair scraping slightly against the hardwood floors in his haste. Steven smiled then finally, helplessly endeared by the gesture and the man in front of him.

 

“So,” Steven said, surveying the food in front of him, “what are we eating?”

 

“Well, there’s, uh, blue cheese steak with a side of roasted potatoes or spinach even, if you’d like. I wasn’t sure which side you’d prefer and I didn’t want to ask because that might’ve ruined the surprise so I just made both. I also didn’t know whether you like your steak medium or rare or well-done so I just kept it medium because that’s, um, that’s what I like. And I didn’t know which wine you like so I just got red and white both so you can have whichever one you like, although I would recommend the red with this; the white doesn’t go as well.” Stuart said all of this very fast and Steven bit back a smile.

 

“Yeah, the red’s good and I do like my steak medium. Also, I like potatoes and spinach both.” Stuart’s face broke into a pleased smile as Steven said this and he continued, “This looks great, Stu.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yeah.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!


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